The American Labor Museum hosts “Women Who Invented the Sixties: Ella Baker, Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson and Betty Friedan” Hybrid Book Talk with author Steve Golin on October 21st at 2PM
Haledon, New Jersey – On Saturday, October 21st, 2023 at 2:00 PM and in honor of National Arts and Humanities Month, the American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark cordially invites the general public to the Museum for a book talk with Steve Golin, author of Women Who Invented the Sixties: Ella Baker, Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson and Betty Friedan (University Press of Mississippi, 2022). This is program is hybrid (in-person and via ZOOM.)
While there were many protests in the 1950s—against racial segregation, economic inequality, urban renewal, McCarthyism, and the nuclear buildup—the movements that took off in the early 1960s were qualitatively different. They were sustained, not momentary; they were national, not just local; they changed public opinion, rather than being ignored. Women Who Invented the Sixties tells the story of how four women helped define the 1960s and made a lasting impression for decades to follow.
In 1960, Ella Baker played the key role in the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which became an essential organization for students during the civil rights movement and the model for the antiwar and women’s movements. In 1961, Jane Jacobs published The Death and Life of Great American Cities, changing the shape of urban planning irrevocably. In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, creating the modern environmental movement. And in 1963, Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique, which sparked second-wave feminism and created lasting changes for women. Their four separate interventions helped, together, to end the 1950s and invent the 1960s.
Steve Golin, Ph.D., taught history at Kansas State University and Bloomfield College. As a scholar, he combines his training in the history of ideas with his interest in social history. A lifelong activist, he focuses his writing on social movements.
The Botto House National Landmark, home of the American Labor Museum, is located at 83 Norwood St., Haledon, New Jersey. It was the meeting place for over 20,000 silk mill workers during the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike. The Museum offers a free lending library, restored period rooms, changing exhibits, Museum Store, Old World Gardens, educational programs and special events. For further information and to receive the ZOOM link, please call the Museum at (973) 595-7953 or email labormuseum@gmail.com