- Collection:
- Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives
- Title:
- Fowlkes talks about her earliest involvement with the Women's Movement. (2:03)(2:27)
- Creator:
- Fowlkes, Diane L., 1939-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Van Tilborg, Dana
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 1990/1999
- Subject:
- Feminism
Social movements
Women's studies - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, 33.79025, -84.46702
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798 - Medium:
- audiocassettes
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Diane L. Fowlkes has been a leader in women's advocacy and helped to develop the Women's Studies Institute at Georgia State University. Fowlkes received her B.A. in French language and literature from Southwestern at Memphis, her M.A. in political science from Georgia State University and her Ph.D. in political science from Emory University. The recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Fowlkes attended the Open University in the United Kingdom, 1985-1986. She worked at Georgia State University for over 25 years, and was instrumental in establishing the women's studies program. During the 1990s, when dedicated women's rights activists approached GSU with a detailed plan to create a women's archives (which became the Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives), Fowlkes represented the Women's Studies Institute in supporting their endeavors. Fowlkes's book, White Political Women: Paths from Privilege to Empowerment, was nominated for the Victoria Schuck Award for the best book on women and politics of the American Political Science Association, the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Award, the Elliott Rudwick Prize of the Organization of American Historians, and the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize in Women's History of the American Historical Association (1992). In addition to producing many papers, publications, and presentations, Fowlkes also has participated in various professional associations: She was active with the American Political Science Association, the Southern Political Science Association, the Women's Caucus for Political Science (nationally and regionally), as well as the acting as co-chair of the Program Committee and coordinator of the NWSA '87 Quilt Project for the National Women's Studies Association. Fowlkes has served as consultant for various groups, including the Cave Springs Georgia Housing Authority (1994) and the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women (1982-1985), as well as acting as reviewer of books and board member for a variety of journals, and magazines. She is a member of the American Political Science Association, the Women's Caucus for Political Science, the National Women's Studies Association, and the Southeastern Women's Studies Association. At Georgia State University, Fowlkes served on a variety of panels including the University Senate (1995-1998) and the Committee on Faculty Women's Concerns (1989-1992). Her research and teaching interests include feminist theory, women and politics, and the scope of women's studies. In 1998, the year she retired from Georgia State, Fowlkes was appointed Professor Emerita, and during the spring commencement of that year, she was honored with the University's Exceptional Service Award.
Fowlkes recounts her childhood, her education, and the events that triggered her interest in the Women's Movement. She describes the Civil Rights Movement as the model for the Women's Rights Movement and discusses how it influenced women to work toward changing laws in order to further integrate society. Fowlkes was involved in the Strike for Women's Equality, the Feminist Action Alliance, the socialist-feminist movement, as well as the schism within the campaign for ERA Georgia. She discusses some of the major influential figures in the Women's Movement in Georgia including Margaret Curtis, Joyce Parker, and Sherry Sutton. Fowlkes also discusses her work to establish the Women's Studies Institute at Georgia State University which, she thinks, reflects not only the personal interests of different women, but also the accomplishments of the Women's Movement.
Transcript of this excerpt: DVT: Can you tell me a little bit about how and when you actually became involved in the Women's Movement? DF: Yeah. I can -- When I was working at Georgia State [University] there was, I guess it was the August 26 Strike for -- what was it called? The Strike for Women's Equality, or something, that the new NOW organization -- National Organization for Women organized -- and a group of us went out from our office [the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at GSU College of Business] down to Plaza Park [near where the Peachtree Street Underground Atlanta entrance is now] which is no longer in existence. It's been paved over [laughs]. A group of us went down there. There were a lot of women down there, you know. We actually came out on our lunch break. We didn't not go to work that day, but we came out on our lunch break, and one of the women in the office had made a big poster, I think. There were newspaper reporters there, and they were going around asking us what we were doing and why were we there, and so forth. That's the first action that I was actually involved in. But I didn't really get involved in working on changing legislation or getting women elected to office until later in the '70s; I would say kind of the mid '70s. By then I had finished graduate school and was teaching, and was not yet actually doing research on women or, doing Women's Studies in political science, but I was beginning to get interested in reading what was going on, and also getting involved in some of the organizations like -- The one I got involved in was the Feminist Action Alliance, and that group was interested in holding conferences or workshops, actually, where women could learn how to run for office, because we thought it was important to get women elected to office because most of the men who were in office were not going to change the laws and it was important to get women in office who would work on changing the laws. So, that's what I ended up doing, working with that group. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/coles/id/2034
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/coles:2034/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Extent:
- 33 pages (two audio cassettes)
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Women's Movement Project Collection
Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
