New York – Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

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

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

Between Betty and Me: Art, Activism, and Accessibility

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