Feminism and Women's Advocacy Collection
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 4668
The collection contains a compilation of materials related to feminism and donated to the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC).
The collection is a living collection and may continuously be added to as relevant materials are gifted, donated, or transferred to the WVRHC.
The collection is divided into two series:
Series 1. Artifacts and Papers
Series 2. Oral History Interviews
No special access restriction applies.
Researchers may access born digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia (CSEGA) is at Marhsall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and focused on promoting research on Appalachia's diversity. It was founded in 1996 and hosted its first conference at Marshall University in 2000. As of 2025, the CSEGA sponsors the Sarah Denman Faces of Appalachia Fellowship Award to support scholarship on gender and ethnicity in Appalachia.
The March for Women's Equality and Women's Lives was a mass gathering and march sponsored by the National Organization for Women (NOW) on 1989 April 09 in Washington, D.C. in response to Missouri anti-abortion laws pending in the Supreme Court and former President George H.W. Bush's administration aligning itself with the anti-abortion movement in calling for the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The march was attended by roughly 600,000 protestors from around the country, including activists from West Virginia.
The West Virginia University (WVU) Female Equality Movement (FEM) was a student organization formed prior to 1993 by WVU Center for Women's Studies (CWS) employee Mary Beth Garvin that focuesd on issuing affecting women on the WVU campus. It was best known for co-sponsoring the Take Back the Night events to raise awareness of sexual assault, domestic violence, and safety concerns on WVU campus. The organization was renamed the Gender Equality Movement (GEM) sometime prior to 2012. The organization has no official date of closure but its presence was significantly lessened by 2012.
Mildred Fizer was born in Culloden, West Virginia, in 1921 and is best known for her work with 4-H in her home state. She worked as the county 4-H agent in Cabbel County, West Virginia from 1946 to 1953 before moving on to serve as the Girls Club Agent at the state level until 1966. In 1966, Fizer became the head of the West Virginia Division of 4-H, making her the first woman to lead a division at the state level. She retired in 1978, whereupon she remained active in volunteer organizations in the Morgantown, West Virginia area.
Shefa Nola Benoit is the project coordinator for the Mountain Heritage Trails project in West Virginia. Mountain Heritage Trails, Inc. is a nonprofit based in Mathias, West Virginia and dedicated to preserving Appalchian culture and promoting community learning through folkways and local histories.
0.54 Linear Feet (1 flat storage box 3 in.; 1 flat storage box, 1 in; 1 document case, 2.5 in.)
1.973 Gigabytes (1 .wav file, 1. mov file, and 2 .docx files)
English
The collection contains a compilation of materials related to feminism and donated to the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC). It includes material from the West Virginia University (WVU) Female Equality Movement (FEM), March for Women's Equality and Women's Lives on 1989 April 09 in Washington, D.C., Marshall University's Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia, as well as two oral history intervies of Mildred Fizer and Shefa Nola Benoit.
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
From Marshall University, Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia (CSEGA), 2002
From Meredith E. Kiger, 2022 March 02
Gift from Anna Rachel Terman, 2022 March 18
From Combs, Ethan and Moore, Elisabeth, 2022
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository