Showcase - Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

Theresa Barry and Labrys Books: Virginia’s First Feminist Bookstore

Terri Barry (left) and Joan Mayfield at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, 1979.

Theresa “Terri” 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.

Posted on November 4, 2024 Posted in Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Uncategorized Tagged with Beth Marschak, Colevia Carter, dance, Joan Mayfield, Labrys Books, Ladyslipper, Lammas Books, Laurie Fuchs, Mary Farmer, Richmond, Richmond Lesbian Feminists, Terri Barry, The New York Times, Theresa Barry, USA Today, Virginia, Washington D.C., Women’s Political Caucus, WomensBooks

Lenny Lasater: Coal Miner, Electrician, Musician, and Renaissance Butch

Lenny Lasater Photo credit Candi Pollitt

In the 1970s, Lenny Lasater was a trailblazer for women, first in the Birmingham coal mines, then, in the trade union for electricians, The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, when she was in Nashville, Tennessee, and later, in Atlanta, Georgia. She formed her own business, Lenny Lasater Electrical, in Atlanta, where she also got clean and sober. Also, she started a band that is now called “Just Roxie.” Throughout, she has been out and proud of who she is, “a very butch lesbian.”

Posted on September 7, 2024 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises Tagged with Atlanta, Birmingham Alabama, Blue Creek number 3, Cherry Omega, Decatur Georgia, Georgia, IBEW, IEW 429, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Nashville Local Union 429, Jim Walter Modular Homes, Jimmy Carter, Just Roxie, Knoxville, Metropolitan Community Church, Nashville, pipefitters union, Savannah River Plant, Tennessee, These Friends of Mine, trade unions, United Mineworkers Local

My Mother Was Many Things

June Arnold in 1977. Photo by Barbara Adams.

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 “Women,” and this was true. She was fierce in her devotion to the Women’s Movement.

Posted on September 7, 2024 Posted in Lesbian-Owned Enterprises, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Social and Political Groups, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services Tagged with 5th street building takeover, Alice Echols, and Naiad Press, Applesauce, Barbara Adams, Bertha Harris, Big Mama Rag, Black Maria, Charlotte Bunch, Connie Samaras, Daughters Inc., Deborah Ritchey, Diana Press, Fanny Arnold, Feminist Presses & Feminist Politics, Gus Arnold, Iowa City Women’s Press Collective, Jaime Harker, judy grahn, June Arnold, Kate Arnold, Lesbian Connection, Lesbian feminist activist, Lover, Monique Wittig, Nancy Stockwell, off our backs, Parke Bowman, Patty Bowman, Quest, Quest: A Feminist Quarterly, Reeni Goldin, Roberta Arnold, SEWSA, Sinister Wisdom, Sister Gin, Southeastern Women’s Studies Association, The Cook and the Carpenter, The Lesbian South, The Opoponax, the women’s movement

Between Betty and Me: Art, Activism, and Accessibility

Betty Bird with Ellie

Susan Robinson writes about her then partner Betty Bird, and tells the story of how she and others began a system for recording feminist journals like *Sinister Wisdom* and distributing those recordings through services for the blind.

Posted on August 19, 2024 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services Tagged with Atlanta, Betty Bird, blind, Blizzard, Catherine Nicholson, College of William and Mary, Columbia South Carolina, Commission for the Blind, Conditions, Connie Panzarino, Durham Chapel Hill, Eileen Pagan, exclusion from literary discussion, Feminary, Feminist Taping for Handicapped Readers, Free Matter for the Blind, Harriet Desmoines, Henri Cole, independent mobility, Jelly, Kady van Deurs, Kathy Hagar, lesbian journals on tape, library of Congress, Marj Schneider, minneapolis, Monticello, Nebraska, New York, New York City, New York Lighthouse for the Blind, North Carolina, off our backs, Peaches lesbian bar, planning meetings, print handicapped, Ramon, Recordings for the Blind, Shorty, Sinister Wisdom, southern lesbian writers, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Susan Robinson, Susan Wood Thompson, The Me in the Mirror, The Paris Review, University of Texas, Vicki Gabriner, visual memory, Washington DC, Williamsburg Virginia, WomanWrites, Womomwrites, Womyns Braille Press