The Feminist Press is an independent publisher started in 1970 by Florence Howe. The goal of the press is to publish writing by authors with an activist spirit who believe in equality.
Reclaiming Lost Writers
The Feminist Press began by republishing works of “lost” writers. A colleague brought Florence Howe Life in the Iron Mills, a novella by Rebecca Harding Davis originally published anonymously in 1861. Upon reading it, Florence Howe asked herself what she has since described as the mission of The Feminist Press: If this story was lost, what other women’s stories had been lost – and who would find them?
Florence Howe realized the importance of telling the missing stories of the female half of the human race. Other writers republished by the feminist press were Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Zora Neale Hurston. The Press had a Reprints Advisory Board, which included prominent feminists such as Ros Baxandall, Elaine Hedges, Elaine Showalter, and Catharine Stimpson.
Happenstance Beginning of The Feminist Press
In 1970, Florence Howe, then a professor at Goucher College in Baltimore, had begun exploring questions of identity in her composition classes and adding women authors to the English curriculum. She wanted to work on a series of writings by women about historical women, but could not find a publisher to fund the project. She approached a Baltimore Women’s Liberation group, whose members were interested but also busy with other projects.
Florence Howe described returning home from a trip out of town to unexpectedly find 100 letters from people who had read a notice about her project in the Baltimore group’s newsletter. Unbeknownst to Florence Howe, the ad said she would begin work on a project publishing women’s and children books. Although she had not solicited the responses, she declared a meeting and said if more than twenty people showed up, they would start a Feminist Press. More than twenty people did arrive.
From Baltimore to New York
When Florence Howe moved to New York to teach at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Old Westbury, The Feminist Press moved with her. The Press staff later included students from her Old Westbury courses, as well as a handful of New York City publishing professionals. The Feminist Press is now affiliated with the City University of New York (CUNY).
Other Projects
The Feminist Press began publishing the Women’s Studies Newsletter in 1972, which later became Women’s Studies Quarterly, then WSQ.
Another project of The Feminist Press was a series of teacher in-service courses for the New York Public Schools called Sexism in School and Society.
In 1980, after a decade of The Feminist Press, Florence Howe considered a return to devoting herself full-time to teaching. However, a trip to Europe with Mariam Chamberlain convinced Florence Howe that instead, it was time for The Feminist Press to consider international stories of global feminism. The Feminist Press published Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Present in 1983, began the Women Writing Africa series in the 1990s, and launched Women Writing the Middle East in 2004.