Paulina Davis, NWL-NYC chapter chair, speaks at Redstockings' 50th anniversary event. Photo: Jenny Brown
Video: NWL Celebrates Redstockings 50th Anniversary
The groundbreaking radical feminist group Redstockings was formed in 1969. This year is their 50th Anniversary. On November 11, 2019, NWL held an anniversary event. Carol Giardina, a Gainesville Women's Liberation founder and longtime Redstockings' member, introduced Restockings. She explained:
“Redstockings women went on to champion and spread knowledge of vital women's liberation theory, slogans and actions that have become household words such as consciousness-raising, the person is political, the pro-woman line, the politics of housework, the Miss America protest, and speak-outs—that would break the taboos of silence around subjects like abortion.
“Redstockings today is a new kind of grassroots, activist, think tank established by movement veterans for defending and advancing the women's liberation agenda. The archives for action is a project Redstockings established in 1989 to make the formative and radical 1960's experience of the movement more widely available for taking stock and needed for new understandings and improved strategies.”
At the event NWL organizers read a number Redstockings' writing and talked about how those writings impacted them. Organizers read “The Redstockings Manifesto,” a portion of “Going for What We Really Want,” by Kathie Sarachild, a portion of “The Power of History,” by Kathie Sarachild, and a portion of “Major Articles Censored From the 1978 Random House Edition of Redstockings' Feminist Revolution,” by Redstockings. The event included reflections from Kathie Sarachild. All these readings can be found on the Redstockings website, redstockings.org.
As in unity–in the organized movement– there is power, so in continuity– or history– there is power. If unity is hard to achieve, continuity may be even harder. Continuity, in fact, is a form of unity, is an essential part of unity and a higher form because it also involves the power of persistence. To win, women uniting is not enough. Women must unite and persist! But without a history, persistence is impossible.
(The above quote is an excerpt from Power of History by Kathie Sarachild found in Feminist Revolution by Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement.)
