Dorothy Pitman Hughes is a feminist, child-welfare advocate, African-American activist, public speaker, author, pioneering African-American small business owner, and mother of three daughters. She was a co-founder of Ms. Magazine in 1971. She organized the first shelter for battered women in New York City and co-founded the New York City Agency for Child Development. Hughes also co-founded with Gloria Steinem and others the Women?s Action Alliance in 1971. The two women toured together speaking about gender, class and race throughout the 1970s. Hughes owned and operated three early child-care centers helping establish the modern convention in the 1960s. She also owned a cleaning supply business in Harlem from 1997 to 2007 and wrote about her experiences in Wake Up and Smell the Dollars! and I'm Just Saying... It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing, advocating small business ownership to other African Americans as a form of empowerment, as well as advising how to avoid potential pitfalls specific to African Americans. 

January 1st, 1938 in   /  Died:   Dec 1st, 2022