Robin Morgan

**Robin Morgan** (born January 29, 1941) is an American activist, poet, and actress. She is most well known for her work as a key member of the feminist movement. She is most well known for organizing the 1968 Miss America Protest in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

## Early life

She attended The Wetter School in Mount Vernon, and graduated in the year 1956. Although, after finishing her high school degree, her mother did not let her attend a formal university. Instead, she had a private tutor teach her college level courses and took some classes from Columbia University as a part-time student there.

## Career

Her career started very young as a child model and actress. In 1945, she had her own radio show called _The Little Robin Morgan Show__._ At that same time, she appeared multiple times as a consistent guest star on _Juvenile Jury_. Her best known work as an actress was on _Mama,_ where she was one of the main characters for 7 years.

Then, at age 14 she decided to switch her focus to her writing. Starting in the 1950s, she published her poems and other writing pieces. In the 1960s, she also worked as a literary agent and freelance editor in New York City.

In 1968, she helped to organize the Miss America Protest in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This protest fought to end the Miss America annual beauty pageants because they enforced sexist beauty standards. This work spurred her on to join more committees and have a larger voice in the feminist movement as well as other activist movements. From 1989 to 1994 she was the editor-in-chief of Ms. Magazine, the first national liberal feminist news magazine.

She did most of her activism work during the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. She has protested both nationally and globally.   Her other work nationally includes protesting against pornography in the media, unequal pay, sexual harassment and assault, and many more feminist issues. Globally she traveled all around the world (especially in the late 1980’s) to fight for women's rights, racial equality, and more. Her career started as a child actress and model, before she ultimately decided to focus on her writing.

She is now an award-winning author who has published poetry, nonfiction books, and fictional novels. She has also founded and/or been an important member of the National Battered Women's Refuge Network, the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Women's Media Center, the National Network of Rape Crisis Centers, the Feminist Writers' Guild, the Women's Foreign Policy Council, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Sisterhood Is Global Institute, the Anti-Vietnam War movement, GlobalSister.org, New York Radical Women, W.I.T.C.H., and Greenstone Women's Radio Network. Now, she also works as a lecturer across the globe in universities and workplace settings. She also still is publishing her writing work.

## Filmography

- 1940s
- _Citizen Saint: The Life of Mother Cabrini_ (playing Francesca S. Cabrini as a child)
- _The Little Robin Morgan Show_ as herself (WOR radio show)
- _Juvenile Jury_ as herself
- 1950s
- _Mama_ as Dagmar Hansen
- _Kraft Television Theatre's Alice in Wonderland_ (as Alice)
- _Mr. I-Magination_ (as self)
- _Tales of Tomorrow_ (starring as Lily Massner)
- _Kiss and Tell_ TV Special (starring as Corliss Archer, 1956)
- Other videos and kinescopes in the Robin Morgan Collection at the Paley Center for Media, NYC
- 1980s - 2010s
- _Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography_ [Feature length Documentary] (as herself) (1981)
- _The American Experience_ TV Documentary (as herself) (2002)
- _1968_ TV Documentary with Tom Brokaw (as herself) (2007)
- Interview by Ronnie Eldridge (2007)
- _Makers: Women Who Make America_  on PBS (2013)

### Poetry

- 1972: _Monster_ (Vintage, )
- 1976: _Lady of the Beasts: Poems_ (Random House, )
- 1981: _Death Benefits: A Chapbook_ (Copper Canyon, Limited Edition of 200 copies)
- 1982: _Depth Perception: New Poems and a Masque_ (Doubleday, )
- 1999: _A Hot January: Poems 1996–1999_ (W. W. Norton, )
- 1990: _Upstairs in the Garden: Poems Selected and New_ (W. W. Norton, )

### Nonfiction

- 1977: _Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist_, (Random House, )
- 1982: _The Anatomy of Freedom_  (W.W. Norton, )
- 1989: _The Demon Lover: On the Sexuality of Terrorism_ (W. W. Norton, )
    - 2001: _The Demon Lover: The Roots of Terrorism_ (Updated Second Edition, Washington Square Press/Simon & Schuster, Inc., )
- 1992: _The Word of a Woman_ (W.W. Norton, )
- 1995: _A Woman's Creed_ (pamphlet), The Sisterhood Is Global Institute
- 2001: _Saturday's Child: A Memoir_ (W. W. Norton, )
- 2006: _Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right_ (Nation Books, )

### Fiction

- 1987: _Dry Your Smile_ (Doubleday, )
- 1991: _The Mer-Child: A New Legend for Children and Other Adults_  (The Feminist Press, )
- 2006: _The Burning Time_ (Melville House, )

### Anthologies

- 1969: _The New Woman_ (Poetry Editor) (Bobbs-Merrill, )
- 1970: _Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement_ (Random House, )
- 1984: _Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology_ (Doubleday/Anchor Books; revised, updated edition The Feminist Press, 1996, )
- 2003: _Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium_ (Washington Square Press, )

### Essays

- "The politics of sado-masochistic fantasies" in
- "Light bulbs, radishes and the politics of the 21st century" in

### Plays

- "Their Own Country" (debut performance, Ascension Drama Series, New York, December 10, 1961 at 8:30pm, Church of the Ascension, reception immediately following.)
- "The Duel." A verse play, published as "A Masque" in her book _Depth Perception_ (debut perf. Joseph Papp's New Shakespeare Festival Public Theater, New York, 1979)

## Related pages

- List of poets from North America

## Other websites

- Womens Media Center
- The Sisterhood is Global Institute
- _Ms. Magazine_
- Papers of Robin Morgan, 1929–1991 (inclusive), 1968–1986 (bulk). Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
- Robin Morgan   Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America

## Infobox (person)

- **image**: RobinMorgan_profile.jpg
- **caption**: Morgan in 2012
- **birth place**: Lake Worth, Florida, U.S.
- **education**: Columbia University (Bachelor of Arts, BA)
- **years active**: 1940s–present
- **notable works**: _Sisterhood_ anthologies
- **children**: Blake Morgan