Turk, Katherine

OUR SYNOPSIS: Katherine Turk tells the story of the National Organization for Women (NOW) by focusing on three of its members: Aileen Hernandez, Patricia Hill Burnett, and Mary Jean Collins. She shows how they embodied NOW’s core mission of being “to organize and advocate for all women by channeling their efforts into one association that sought to end male supremacy.” (11) She centers a key contribution for each case study. Hernandez “believed that feminism was central to every social justice effort.” Burnett “focused on boosting NOW’s political diversity and reach,” and Collins “was committed to grassroots and workplace-focused feminism.” (9-10) NOW was created at the State Commissions on the Status of Women Conference in 1966. While the organization remains a force to be reckoned with to this day, Turk focuses on its first two decades of work. The stories of Hernandez, Burnett, and Collins vitally converged through NOW in the late 1960s. Their chapters adopted different approaches, with Collins building a grassroots movement in Chicago and Burnett targeting wealthy conservatives in Detroit. Hernandez worked in the national leadership, running unopposed for the presidency in 1970. When her predecessor Betty Friedan stepped down in March 1970, she handed Hernandez the lofty assignment of commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment with a national day of protest that August. The day was a brilliant success, with demonstrations in forty cities. Turk argues, “The protests far surpassed NOW’s membership and priorities as activists of all stripes made their presence known.” (128) However, the organization’s focus on regional impact came at the expense of racial inclusivity. NOW’s rapid growth led to substantial power struggles and internal division by the mid 1970s. The organization then shifted to a focus on the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite its growing pains and shortcomings, she makes clear that “NOW transformed America” through national feminism. (366)