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Hidden Figures: Florynce 'Flo' Kennedy #BlackHERstoryMonth 9/28

4,353 views · Published 9 February 2017 · 10:24 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: Sensei Aishitemasu · 2017 · Entertainment

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Lawyer, lecturer, feminist, and radical activist Florynce 'Flo' Kennedy was a leading figure in both the second wave feminist and Black Power movements of the 60s and 70s. Outspoken, controversial, and media savvy, and an early champion of intersectionality in protest, Kennedy is credited with influencing such famous white feminists as Gloria Steinem, as well as advocating fiercely for Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale. 

Born in 1916, Kennedy was raised by parents that encouraged her and her sisters to speak their minds and have high self-esteem.  After the death of her mother, she moved to New York City, applying for Columbia Law School, where she was initially rejected due to her gender. Threatening to take her case to the NAACP and file a lawsuit, she was admitted, becoming the only Black person in her class. After graduating, she opened her own law firm in 1954, representing such clients as the estate of Billie Holiday and civil rights leader H. Rap Brown, before turning to political activism. She organized rallies, protests, and events for women, minorities, and the poor, including a mass women's urination at Harvard to protest their lack of women's bathrooms. In 1967 she jumped onstage and grabbed a mic at a rally against the Vietnam War, leading to a 30-year lecturing career.

One of her major wins was the acquittal of 21 Black Panther members on trial for conspiracy to commit bombings in 1969, and that same year she also organized a group of feminist lawyers to challenge the constitutionality of New York State's abortion law, which led to the eventual overturning of the law and the legalization of abortion in New York state in 1970. She went on to co-found the National Black Feminist Organization, the National Women's Political Caucus, and the National Organization for Women.

#HiddenFigures #BlackHERstoryMonth

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Links: 

'Flo Kennedy, Feminist, Civil Rights Advocate and Flamboyant Gadfly, Is Dead at 84:'
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/23/us/flo-kennedy-feminist-civil-rights-advocate-and-flamboyant-gadfly-is-dead-at-84.html?pagewanted=all

'The Lasting Legacy of Florynce Kennedy, Black Feminist Fighter:'
https://www.solidarity-us.org/node/3272

Florynce Kennedy:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jan/10/guardianobituaries1

Florynce Kennedy (Wikipedia):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florynce_Kennedy

Florynce “Flo” Kennedy - The Life of a Black Feminist Radical (links to buy and a video clip of the author speaking about Flo):

https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469623917/florynce-“flo”-kennedy/

https://muse.jhu.edu/book/42267

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469623924_randolph

https://www.amazon.com/Florynce-Flo-Kennedy-Feminist-American/dp/1469623919

https://www.c-span.org/video/?403213-1/florynce-flo-kennedy

'COLOR ME FLO ~ My Hard Life and Good Times' (Her Autobiography):
https://www.amazon.com/COLOR-Hard-Life-Good-Times/dp/0131523635/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3FRQJADEY8GVM0FECCXP

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