1972 February 12

Dorothy Kenyon, Feminist and Civil Libertarian, Dies

 

Dorothy Kenyon was a New York City attorney, a liberal, feminist and civil libertarian who was active in the ACLU and many other organizations. She has the distinction of being the first person “named” by Senator Joe McCarthy, which he did on March 8, 1950.

McCarthy had made extravagant and ever-changing claims about having a “list” of Communists in government and was under pressure to deliver actual names.

In tribute to Kenyon’s pioneering work for women’s rights, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, added her name to brief in the landmark women’s rights case of Frontiero v. Richardson, decided on May 14, 1973.

Learn about Dorothy Kenyon:
http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss35_bioghist.html

Read the ACLU’s tribute to “The Women Who Put Women’s Rights on the ACLU’s Agenda here

Learn about Dorothy Kenyon’s influence on Ruth Bader Ginsburg here

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