Department of History

With Her Fist Raised: Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the Transformative Power of Black Community Activism, Laura Lovett

"In 1969, a young reporter for New York magazine visited the West 80th Street Day Care and Community Center directed by Dorothy Pitman Hughes.  Begun as an at-home child care for neighborhood children, Dorothy’s center grew from rooms in a welfare hotel to a former Chinese restaurant on West 80th Street. Despite its humble origins and surroundings, the reporter recognized that the day care center was a locus of power, a “neighborhood-changing, life changing” place. Described by the reporter as possessing a "natural gift for organizing," Dorothy used the Center to create community-controlled resources that provided job training, a Youth Action Corps, housing assistance, protection from domestic violence, and food resources on the Westside of Manhattan before gentrification. That young reporter, who was justifiably impressed with Dorothy in 1969, was Gloria Steinem."  Read more...