Title: Dear Deedee
Description: It's been years since I read it, so I'm going by memory here. I read it as an adolescent, and it made a great impression on me. Dori committed suicide in the early 60s. The book is based on her diary and implies that she felt out of place in the conservative era of the late 50s/early 60s when black Americans still drank from different water fountains and women weren't supposed to go to college--unless they were seeking a husband. Dori sought a career (as well as a husband) and that just wasn't very common at that time. She was troubled by the limits society attempted to place on her as a highly intelligent and career-oriented female as well as by the racism blacks endured. I thought it ironic and strangely inspiring (to me, as I shared her views) that the civil rights movement began only a few short years after her death. If only she'd held on for a few more years, she would have found the movement for a better world that she'd sought. It inspired me because, like Dori, I was troubled by the same conservatism I grew up with (though decades later). Knowing that an entire movement that was in line with her views took place shortly after her death gives me the hope I currently seek that perhaps another movement for civil rights might occur again.  I believe Dori's mom had her diary published in her memory. I thank her for doing so and would encourage any young, progressive, independently-minded girl who feels out of place and misunderstood (or anyone interested in civil rights issues) to read it.
Subjects: Biography, Young women, civil rights movement, women's rights, racism, sexism, suicide
Places: United States, Los Angeles, UCLA
People: Dori Schaffer (1938-1963), Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem
Time periods: 1950s, 1960s