Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers – Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

Merril Mushroom: Lifelong Feminist Butch, Radical Advocate, and so much more

Merril Mushroom at her present home in 2022. Photo by Jill Spisak.

Merril Mushroom came out in the 1950s in Miami Beach, Florida, where she experienced homophobia and racism while learning the rules of being butch or femme. A lifelong butch, she has written scores of articles about lesbian life, including a play, Bar Dykes, that has been produced in San Francisco, California; New York City; and other cities in between. Her interview describes growing up Jewish in a city with signs saying “No Jews Allowed,” teaching elementary school in Harlem in the 1960s, and moving to rural middle Tennessee, where she has lived since the 1970s.

Posted on May 5, 2025 Posted in Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services Tagged with AAUW, adoption, Alabama, ALFA, American Association of University Women, Anti-war movement, antisemitism, Association for Mentally Ill Children, Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance, Bank Street School, Brown v Board of Education, Caffe Cino, Camp Skytop, Charlie Johns, Coleman Younger, Dowelltown, Duke archives, Ed Sullivan, Feminist activism, feminist movement, Florida, Florida State University, Francis Lee, Freedom Bus, Gadsden, Gainesville, Girlfriends magazine, Gloria Steinem, Greenwich Village, Harlem, head shop, Jack, Jewish, John Harris, Johns Committee, Julia Penelope, Julia Penelope Stanley, Knoxville, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, lesbian, Lesbian Home Movie Project, Lincoln Legion of Lesbians, LSD, McCarthy hearings, Miami Beach, Millbrook Group, motorcycle messenger, New York, New York City, New York MIX Festival, OLAC, old lesbians organizing for change, Paranoia, Penny Stanley, photoanimator, psychedelics, puppeteer, racism, Ram Dass, Raspberry Exercises, Rosman, Sharon Thompson, Sinister Wisdom, Southeast, southern, Tampa, Tennessee, Tennessee Red Book, Timothy Leary, Toast of the Town, Tommy Trent, University of Florida, University of Miami, vaudeville

Kathleen “Corky” Culver: Activist, Organizer, Filmmaker, Landyke, Poet

Corky Culver has been a leader and a documenter since the early days of modern lesbian feminism, cofounding a women’s land group, organizing cultural and political events (especially peace activism), publishing poetry, and singing with others at every possible opportunity.

Posted on April 14, 2025 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian Land Groups, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Social and Political Groups, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services, Spirituality and Religion Tagged with Abby Bogomolny, Blue Lunden, C.A. Culver, Cathy Drompp, chem-free, consciousness-raising, consensus decision-making, Corky Culver, CR group, croning, Culla Culver, Denise Matthews, documentary filmmaking, Donna Dyke, Dore Rotundo, FAN, FAN Feminist Action Network, feminist, Feminist Action Network, Ferron, Finding the Well, Flash Silvermoon, Gainesville Florida, Gractia Culver, Harvard Film Archive, Joan Larkin, Julia Dragonfly, Kathleen Anne Walsh, Kathleen Culver, Katura Carey, Kentucky, LEAP, lesbian, lesbian archives, lesbian CR group, lesbian feminism, Lesbian Home Movie Project, lesbian websites, Lesbians Empowered for Action and Politics, Lorelei Esser, Marie Steinwachs, Michigan Womyn’s Music Festivals, Minnie Bruce Pratt, North Forty, Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project, Red House, rural lesbians, Ruth Dreamdigger, Savannah River Peace Camp, Sharon Thompson, slfahp, southern, Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project, SPARC Sexual and Physical Abuse Resource Center, The Natural Law of Water, Theresa Carr, Thoreau, women’s land, Women’s Peace Walk, Women’s Renaissance Festival

Mendy Knott: The Writer’s Life on the Mountain

Mendy Knott, North Carolina poet, reflecting her experiences as a former police officer, military veteran, and Southern preacher’s kid. She is an award-winning screenplay writer, too.

Posted on January 20, 2025 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers Tagged with A Little Lazarus, academic poets, Across the ARK-LA-TEX: A Cross Family Cookbook, alcoholic, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg Tennessee, Asheville North Carolina, Asheville Womens Chorus, Austin Texas, Burnsville North Carolina, butch lesbian, Climbing Mt Pisgah, cultural mecca, DeKalb County at Emory University, Down and Dirty, downtown church Jubilee, fantasy novel, Fayetteville Arkansas, Goddess Festival, HOWL, In My Dreams, Jackson Mississippi, Leigh Knott, Leigh Wilkerson, lesbian feminist cultural center, lesbians, Malaprops Bookstore, married, Matinee, mecca for lesbians, Men Only Screenplay, Mendy Knott, military veteran, Minden Louisiana, mountains, Peacework, Peggy Seeger, performance poets, poet, poetry chapbooks, Poets Under the Maples, Police Academy, police officer, poppyseed cake, post apocalyptic, Presbyterian ministers family, Raising Voices: A Café of Our Own Anthology, raped in the military, Rhodes in Memphis, S M sexuality, screenplay writer, screwed over by a lesbian press, sexuality, slam poets, sober, Southern preachers kid, Southern Sin: True Stories of the Sultry South and Women Behaving Badly, street poets, tattoo, The Pentaculum, University of Memphis, US Air Force, violence against women, Voice Like a Hammer: Women Respond to 9 11, Womansong, womens open mic, womens voices, Womonwrites, write a novel, writer

Shewolf: Dedicated to Lesbian Lands

Shewolf formed lesbian community and worked for equal pay for women at University of Louisiana Lafayette, held feminist potlucks, and she was ahead of her time.

Posted on December 19, 2024 Posted in Lesbian Land Groups, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers Tagged with Carefree, Cathy Groene, Directory of Wimmens Land Communities, Gina Razete, landdyke directory, lesbian, lesbian potluck, longleaf, lovern king, Maize: A Lesbian Country Magazine, Outland, Pagoda, Professor of Speech Therapy, pueblo rv park, Rainbow Village, RVing Women, Shewolf, Sister Spirit, Sugarloaf, Superstition Mountain Resort, Womanshare, WomanWorld, zoe swanagon

Category: Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers

Merril Mushroom: Lifelong Feminist Butch, Radical Advocate, and so much more

Kathleen “Corky” Culver: Activist, Organizer, Filmmaker, Landyke, Poet

Mendy Knott: The Writer’s Life on the Mountain

Shewolf: Dedicated to Lesbian Lands