Florence Howe

Who is Florence Howe?

Florence Howe, American author, publisher, literary scholar and historian, is understood to be a nationally recognised leader of the contemporary feminist movement.

Born in Brooklyn, New York on March 17, 1929, Florence was daughter to Samuel and Frances Stilly Rosenfeld. Florence loved learning from a young age. Her mother, Frances, a bookkeeper, encouraged her daughter to follow a teaching career.

In 1946, at age 16, Howe entered Hunter College High School. She was one of only five young women from Brooklyn to do so. In 1949, she was awarded entrance to Phi Beta Kappa, the elite academic organization which commends superlative academic achievement. Various people in power encouraged her to take graduate courses in literature and to become a college professor. After receiving a BA in English in 1950 from Hunter College, Howe entered Smith College and earned an MA in English in 1951.

She taught black children in a Mississippi freedom school during 1964 and chaired the Modern Language Association commission on the Status of Women in the Profession. In 1967, she signed a public statement declaring her intention to refuse to pay income taxes in protest against the U.S. war against Vietnam. Howe also founded The Feminist Press, which published its first book in 1972.