The NYU History of Women and Gender program presents seminars with visiting scholars each semester.

Please join us for the second seminar of the semester on Monday, December 2 from 12:30-2:00pm, 53 Washington Square South, room 607.

Lara Vapnek, Professor of History at St. John’s University will be discussing her research on Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s 1955 autobiography The Rebel Girl: “The ‘Rebel Girl’ Revisited: Re-Reading Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s Life Story.”

A light lunch will be served.

If you would like to attend or would like to be added to the seminar series mailing list, please RSVP to Sarah Pedder, skp456@nyu.edu.

A seminar paper will be emailed ahead of the event to those who have RSVP-ed. All are welcome to attend, whether or not you read the text in advance.

Abstract:

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964) is best remembered for her autobiography, The Rebel Girl (1955). This classic text of labor history recounts Flynn’s early career as a socialist soapbox speaker, her work as an “agitator” for the Industrial Workers of the World, and her defense of political prisoners during World War I. Despite its iconic status, The Rebel Girl has been subject to little historical analysis. This article examines the political circumstances within which Flynn narrated her life story, and it considers how her membership in the Communist Party (as of 1937) prevented her from completing an anticipated second volume, or discussing her sexuality. Thus, the muted memory of “Red Feminism,” may be attributed to the self-censorship of communist women, as well as the legacy of anti-communism.