Showcase – 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

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

Marie Steinwachs: Waste Warrior and Environmental Champion

Marie Steinwachs’s activism confronted authority and educated on environmental issues and sustainability practices, earning awards for her pioneering work.

Posted on February 11, 2025 Posted in Social and Political Groups, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services Tagged with Ann Arbor Michigan, anti-nuclear work, antinuclear work, Arkansas, Big Mountain, Bioregional Congress, Bureau of Land Management, California desert, Colorado, Damascus, Desert Center, Fayetteville Arkansas, feminism, feminist, Friends of the United Nations Environment Programme Award, Gainesville Florida, hazardous household waste, Hazardous Waste Commission, Hog Farm, Household Hazardous Waste Project, incinerators, International Conference on Women and Environment, LBGTQ, lesbian, Little rock, Little Rock Chapter of the Dogwood Alliance, local sustainability efforts, Love Canal, NABC, New Destiny Federation of Co-ops, New Life Farm, North American Bioregional Congress, OACC, Ozark Area Community Congress, Ozark Regional Land Trust, Ozarks, preventing pollution, Rodale, Springfield Community Task Force, Springfield Missouri, Steamboat Springs, The Guide to Hazardous Products Around the Home, Three Mile Island, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, University of Missouri Extension, Venice Florida, water quality, Yellowstone Park

Kecia Cunningham: Bodacious African American Trailblazer

In 1999, Kecia Cunningham was the South’s first, openly lesbian African American elected to office, winning a seat on Decatur, Georgia, City Commission.

Posted on February 4, 2025 Posted in Social and Political Groups Tagged with activism, African American woman, Agnes Scott College, Decatur City Commission, Decatur Georgia, each one teach one, feminist, first openly gay African American, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and LGBTQ Victory Fund, HRC, Human Rights Campaign, Lenny Lasater, lesbian, LGBTQIA+, Mayor Elizabeth Wilson, queer person, southern, The Enlightened Coalition, Victory Fund, Wellesley College, Wellesley’s Organization of Lesbians and Friends, WOLF