Veteran Feminists of America

Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization for supporters and veterans of the Second Wave of the feminist revolution. Founded by Jacqueline Ceballos in 1992, Veteran Feminists of America regularly hosts reunions for second-wave feminists and events honoring feminist leaders.

The purpose of Veteran Feminists of America is to honor, record and preserve the history of the accomplishments of women and men active in the feminist movement, to educate the public on the importance of the changes brought about by the women’s movement, to preserve the movement’s history and to inspire future generations.

The Veteran Feminists of America was created with the goals of remembering and recording the faces and retrospectives of the hundreds of pioneers who launched the 1960s feminist movement, often called second-wave feminism.

At first, VFA gatherings consisted of a time and place to meet and reminisce, followed by an awards dinner captured for posterity on video. Those videotapes are now archived at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University. Soon after their first reunion in 1992, Jacqueline Ceballos joined with Dorothy Senerchia and Mary Jean Tully to create the organization. Muriel Fox joined soon thereafter and has chaired the organization since 1994.

The original idea for a name, Veterans of Feminist Wars, was rejected because its acronym could be confused with that of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization.

During its first decade, VFA mainly honored individuals and groups for their work in establishing national and local organizations, raising public awareness about feminist issues, and lobbying for women’s rights. In time, VFA’s events spread geographically and reached into new areas across the country.

In 1998, VFA Board member Barbara Love, with help from her fellow VFA members, began compiling a directory of feminists, published in 2006 as Feminists Who Changed America: 1963-1975 (University of Illinois Press). The book is a collection of 2,220 biographies of second-wave feminists who accomplished significant activist work. It is also available as a searchable CD (www.fwca-cd.vetfems.org). Feminists Who Changed America — along with the videos from two decades of retrospective events — brings to life the history of feminism’s second wave. It is meant to help to ensure that the achievements of the women’s movement are not forgotten.

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