Lesbian Connection - Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

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

Celebrating the Anniversary of the Herstory Project

May and June 2024 are multiple anniversaries for the SLFA Herstory Project. It’s the fifteenth anniversary of our first Herstory Project planning workshop at Womonwrites. It’s the tenth anniversary of our first special issue of Sinister Wisdom. And it’s the second anniversary of the launching of this website.

We celebrated the publication of our sixth and final Sinister Wisdom volume two years ago. The six special volumes contain a treasure trove of collected stories, interviews, timelines, and photographs from three decades of twentieth-century, lesbian-feminist activism in Southern states. Now, we are focusing on making these edited interviews available online as we continue to add new interviews.

The herstory of lesbian-feminist activism in the South was rapidly being lost as these stories of unsung sheroes were not being reported in any of the memoirs and histories of the women’s liberation movement in the twentieth century.

Posted on May 5, 2024 Posted in Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers Tagged with 2019 last Womonwrites, 30th Womonwrites Anniversary 2009, Atlanta, Barbara Ester, Beth York, Carol Hanisch, class diversity, consciousness raising groups, Corky Culver, descendent of Womonwrites, Duke University archive, Durham NC, education diversity, first womens land community 1972, first Womonwrites 1979, Florida, Gainesville, Herstory Project 2009, Jaye McNeil, Jessica Lenn Chia, Kathy Sarachild, Knoxville Tennessee, Lennie Lassiter, lesbian activity, Lesbian Connection, Lesbian Home Movie Project, Lorraine Fontana, Mandy Carter, Merril Mushroom, Nashville, New York Radical Womens group, North Forty, old lesbians organizing for change, OLOC, Pagoda project, participant led, race consciousness, reading groups, Rose Norman, Sinister Wisdom, SLFA, Southeast, Southern dykes, Southern Festival, Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project, Southern Women’s Music and Comedy Festival, timeline of activism, twentieth century lesbian feminism activism in Southern states, University of Florida Oral History Program, WeMoon 1973, Womens Liberation Movement, Womonwrites, writing groups

The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community by the Sea–Interview with the Book’s Author, Rose Norman

The Pagoda was a lesbian residential community and cultural center on the beach near St. Augustine, Florida, from 1977 to 1999. Rose Norman interviewed founders, residents, and guests for the story of how it came to be and how it lasted so long.

Posted on December 6, 2023 Posted in 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 Alapine, alcoholism, Changing the Hymns to Hers, controversial issues, cultural center, Deeply Held Beliefs, Dykewriters, Elethia, Emily Greene, Flash Silvermoon, Gaia’s Guide, Gainesville Florida, Goddess church, healing place, Heresies, incorporated feminist church, intentional communities, Landykes of the South, Lavender, Lee Lanning, lesbian battering, lesbian community, Lesbian Connection, lesbian culture and community movements, Lesbian Home Movie Project, Lesbian Land, Lesbianima Rising, Martha Strozier, mental health counselors, Merril Mushroom, Morgana, Nett Hart, no boy children allowed, on the beach, Pagoda cottages, Pagoda story for Landykes of the South, Pagoda supporter, Rainbow Williams, Ree’s Seashore Cottages, Rena Carney, Rose Norman, sadomasochism, Second Sunays, separatism, shared mortgage, Sharon Thompson, Shorty Res, Sinister Wisdom, Southern Lesbian Activist Herstory Project, St Augustine Florida, Sugarloaf, SW104, tax-exempt, temple of Love, The Backstage Bar, The Mother Church in Florida, the Pagoda, The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community By The Sea, theatre at the Pagoda, Toni Head, University of Florida archive, vegetarian, Wiccan feminist spirituality, women’s music circuit, women’s studies, Womonwrites, WordWeavers

Bonnie Netherton: Traveling a Winding Path to Women’s Community

Bonnie Netherton in the rowboat she used to travel back and forth to her Chinese junk, Ming Meng

The very best years of my life were the years that I lived on the water, on the boat. I think of those years as the best, the best I ever lived.

Posted on January 30, 2023 Posted in Lesbian Land Groups Tagged with ALFA, Atlanta, Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance, Barbara Deming, Barbara Deming Money for Women Fund, Barbara Lieu, Blue Lunden, Bonnie Netherton, Chicago, Chinese junk, Coast Guard, consciousness raising groups, feminist lawyer, Florida, Frances Pici, Ft Lauderdale, Gainesville, Georgia, Harriett Green, Hurricane Wilma, Jewish, joint custody, Key West, LaGuardia Airport, Latvia, Lavender Lieu, Lesbian Connection, lesbian hotel, Manhattan, Margie Pitts Hames, Mermaid Inn, Mexico, Mickey Alberts, Ming Meng, Mobile Alabama, Morgana, New Orleans, New York City, New Yorker, Pagoda, Pearls, Pici, pograms, Rainbow Williams, real estate license, Red Dyke Theatre, San Francisco, Sandy Hagan, school bus, scooter, Skyler Maxwell, St Simons Island, Star, storm surge, Sugarloaf Community, Sugarloaf Key, Sugarloaf Womens Village, Wilma, Womens Peace Walk

Tag: Lesbian Connection

My Mother Was Many Things

Celebrating the Anniversary of the Herstory Project

The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community by the Sea–Interview with the Book’s Author, Rose Norman

Bonnie Netherton: Traveling a Winding Path to Women’s Community