I went down to Mississippi from Cambridge, MA in September 1964 to work for SNCC. I stayed until December, mostly manning the WATS line in Jackson. I did spend a little time in Vicksburg and Hattiesburg. One of my jobs was to check in with each of the field offices each day. I still have dreams about the things I heard on those calls. I was profoundly affected, not only by the unbelievable injustice but by the appalling poverty. Mississippi changed my life.
The next year I helped organize the first Vietnam Teach-In in Berkeley with Mario Savio, Jerry Rubin and others. In 1970 our women's group started the Rhode Island Women's Political Caucus and RI NOW. When law schools opened up to women, I went to Rutgers Law School. I organized the first national conference for lawyers on gay law in 1976. We had 1000 lawyers and law students. In the eighties and nineties I was involved in hunger and homelessness issues, running a soup kitchen for a while. I was also a foster mother to 37 kids, including my two African-Americn sons, David and Isaiah, whom I adopted as infants.
I'm so glad to be back in touch with SNCC people!
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