Southern lesbian-feminist activists in publishing, publications, and booksellers
Shewolf dedicated her adult life to the dream of lesbian community and in service of women. She worked to achieve equal pay for equal work at the University of Louisiana, at the Lafayette campus in southwest Louisiana. She started holding feminist potlucks that continued for 15 years. Shewolf wore a pants suit to her interview for her job at the University of Louisiana, which was quite revolutionary at the time.
Theresa âTerriâ Barry came out in 1976 when she was in her early twenties and still in college. That same year, she met her then-partner Joan Mayfield, and they decided to start a feminist bookstore. From 1977 to about 1980, she and Joan ran Labrys Books in the living room of their Richmond, Virginia, home. They chose the name Labrys, after the double headed ritual axe found in ancient Minoan depictions of the Mother Goddess. The bookstore was run with the support of the Richmond Lesbian Feminists, an organization that still exists today.
Roberta Arnold writes about her mother, June Arnold, novelist and founder of Daughters, Inc. publishing company. Julia Penelope once said that June filled out a form stating her religion as âWomen,â and this was true. She was fierce in her devotion to the Womenâs Movement.Â
Maria Cristina Moroles, known now by her ceremonial name Ăguila, is an Indigenous curandera, shaman, and landyke who has lived at Santuario Arco Iris, rugged womenâs land in the Ozark Mountains near Ponca, Arkansas, since 1974. The land offers over a hundred acres of sanctuary for women and children, especially women and children of color. In 2000, she founded the Arco Iris Earth Care Project, a nonprofit that preserves 400 acres of neighboring wilderness land.