Lesbian Home Movie Project – 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

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

Tag: Lesbian Home Movie Project

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

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

Celebrating the Anniversary of the Herstory Project

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