Margaret Sloan-Hunter

Photo: SF Gate

Photo: SF Gate

 

Country: United States

Location: Chattanooga, Tennesse/Oakland, California

About

Margaret Sloan-Hunter (May 31, 1947 - September 23, 2004) was a Black lesbian feminist, author, editor of Ms. Magazine, and the first and only president of the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO).

Biography by Jaedyn Griddine and Jaimee A. Swift

Collage of Margaret Sloan-Hunter by Doriana Diaz.

Margaret Sloan-Hunter was born to Virginia Wilson in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1947, and was raised with her sister, Barbara Cross, in Chicago, Illinois. She was a very politically-active youth; at age 14, she joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a controversial yet pivotal organization that worked toward civil rights and Black poverty in Chicago. Through her activism in her early years, she marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was a coordinator of Operation Breadbasket with Reverend Jesse Jackson. At 17, she founded the Junior Catholic Inter-Racial Council. She attended Chicago City College and Malcolm X Community College, then attended Antioch University in San Francisco for the Women’s Studies graduate program.

In 1973, Margaret founded the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO), and served as its first president. The NBFO was the first of its kind, an intersectional activist space that addressed issues of gender and race. The NBFO emerged from several meetings of Black women at the offices of the National Organization of Women in New York City. The inaugural meeting of the NBFO was initiated to “...discuss Black women and their relationship to the feminist movement” (Hull and Smith, 2003, p. 12). Discussing their commonalities, they came together to not only repudiate racialized and gendered stereotypes but to also center the reproductive justice for Black women, as they recognized the patriarchal and misogynistic response to the landmark Roe v. Wade decision by many Black nationalists (Springer, 2005, p. 51). 

It was her move to California in 1975, however, that jump-started her extensive, successful career in organizing. She co-founded the Women’s Foundation, and worked with the Berkeley Women’s Center, the Feminist School for Girls, and the Women’s Alcoholism Center in various leadership positions. She then partnered with Gloria Steinem on Ms. Magazine, and the two later traveled throughout North America and Europe, giving thousands of lectures on women’s and civil rights issues. Sloan-Hunter also lectured at places such as Harvard, Yale and the National Welfare Rights Organization, and emceed for feminist events such as the West Coast Women's Music and Comedy Festival. She was also a very accomplished writer, having published works in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Civil Rights Digest, as well as poetry in magazines like Lesbian Path and For Lesbians Only. She even made it on TV, making an appearance on the "Today" show, and being interviewed by Phil Donahue and David Frost. In 2004, after suffering a long illness, Margaret passed away, not before being awarded the key to her home city of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Sources:

  1. Los Angeles Times . Margaret Sloan-Hunter, 57; Writer Formed Black Feminist Organization. 2004 October 2004. <https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-oct-15-me-passings15.1-story.html>.

  2. The VFA Pioneer Historied Project - Margaret Sloan-Hunter

  3. Margaret Sloan-Hunter, Former Editor of Ms Magazine, Dies at 57 by Feminist Majority Foundation Blog 

  4. A Woman to Know: Margaret Sloan-Hunter by Julia Carpenter

  5. Margaret Sloan-Hunter, Feminist, and Publisher born by African-American Registry

  6. Margaret Sloan-Hunter -- united black, feminist struggles by Charles Burress 

  7. Margaret Rose Sloan-Hunter by Windy City Times

  8. Honoring 50 Years of the National Black Feminist Organization: An Interview with Dr. Kimberly Springer by Karla Mendez

Recommended Resources:

Written Works by Margaret Sloan-Hunter:

  1. Sloan-Hunter, Margaret. Black Feminism: A New Mandate. , 1974. Print.

  2. Corinne, Tee, Jacqueline Lapidus, and Margaret Sloan-Hunter. Yantras of Womanlove. , 1982. Print.

  3. Sloan-Hunter, Margaret. Black & Lavender: The Collected Poems. Santa Cruz, Calif: Talking Circles Press, 1995. Print.

Archives & Recordings of Margaret Sloan-Hunter:

  1. Bellamy, Carol, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, and Gloria Steinem. Sexism and Racism. Los Angeles: Pacifica Radio Archives, 1973. Internet resource. Via WorldCat.

  2. Thomas, Joyce C, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, and Aileen Hernandez. In Celebration of Black Womanhood. Los Angeles: Pacifica Radio Archives, 1982. Internet resource. Via Worldcat.

  3. Gee, Deborah, Bill Wilkins, Pat Bond, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, Sally M. Gearhart, Sarah Lewinstein, and Chris Tucker. Lesbians: The Invisible Minority. San Francisco, CA: KGO-TV, 1991. Via Worldcat.

  4. Sloan-Hunter, Margaret. Exploring Racism and Sexism: Lecture, 4/6/90. , 2015. Via Worldcat.

 

GRAPHICS TO SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Margaret Sloan-Hunter

United States, North AmericaKeshia White