21 Facts About Florence Howe

Florence Rosenfeld Howe was an American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian who is considered to have been a leader of the contemporary feminist movement.

Florence Howe's mother encouraged her daughter to follow a teaching career.

In 1943, Howe entered New York City's highly selective Hunter College High School.

Florence Howe was one of only five young women from Brooklyn to do so.

Florence Howe graduated high school early and attended Hunter College.

In 1954, Florence Howe attended the University of Wisconsin, resuming her work in graduate studies for art history and literature.

Florence Howe was awarded an honorary doctorate by DePauw University in 1987.

In 1960, Florence Howe was employed as an assistant professor in the English department at a private women's college, Goucher College, located in Maryland.

Florence Howe taught African American children in a Mississippi freedom school during 1964 and chaired the Modern Language Association commission on the Status of Women in the Profession.

In 1970, Florence Howe founded The Feminist Press, "an educational nonprofit organization founded to advance women's rights and amplify feminist perspectives", the organization had published three books by 1973.

In 1973, Florence Howe took on the role of President of the Modern Language Association after being voted in.

In 1977, Florence Howe was presented with an honorary doctorate in humane letters from New England College.

In 1979, Florence Howe was presented with another honorary doctorate in humane letters, given by Skidmore College.

In 1987, Florence Howe was employed as a professor of humanities at SUNY.

Florence Howe married Paul Lauter in the 1960s and divorced him in 1987.

In 1964, while living in Baltimore, Florence Howe travelled to Jackson, Mississippi, as a Freedom Summer volunteer and was tasked with serving as a teacher in a Freedom School for black children.

Jackson came with her to Baltimore and Florence Howe became her second mother, although an adoption was never formalized.

Florence Howe died on September 12,2020, in New York City, at the age of 91.

Florence Howe lived on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, and prior to her death received hospice care for Parkinson's disease.

The Florence Howe Award is an annual feminist scholarship acknowledging two outstanding essays by members of the Women's Caucus, one from the field of English and one from a foreign language.

Florence Howe contributed the piece "The Proper Study of Womankind: Women's Studies" to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan.