Chude Pamela Parker Allen (born 1943) is an American activist of the civil rights movement and

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...

. She was a founder of

New York Radical Women New York Radical Women (NYRW) was an early second-wave radical feminist group that existed from 1967 to 1969. They drew nationwide media attention when they unfurled a banner inside the 1968 Miss America pageant displaying the words "Women ...

Education and civil rights movement activism

Pamela Parker was born in Pennsylvania in 1943. She grew up

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

and lived in

Solebury, Pennsylvania Solebury is an unincorporated community in Solebury Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. Solebury is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 263 Pennsylvania Route 263 (PA 263) is a north–south st ...

. Her mother was a nursery school teacher and her father worked as a manager in a rubber goods factory. Allen attended

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota and Rice County, Minnesota, Rice counties in the U.S. state, state of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 U ...

, where she studied religion. She joined the

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships a ...

. During the summer of 1963, she was a counselor at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia where she lived with Paul Washington, the church's African-American rector, and his family. In her junior year, she was one of 13 white exchange students at the

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

in Spring 1964. There she attended a seminar on nonviolence conducted by

Staughton Lynd Staughton Craig Lynd (November 22, 1929 – November 17, 2022) was an American political activist, author, and lawyer. His involvement in social justice causes brought him into contact with some of the nation's most influential activists, includ ...

and became involved with the

Committee on Appeal for Human Rights The Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR) was a group of Atlanta University Center students formed in February 1960. The committee drafted and published An Appeal for Human Rights on March 9, 1960. Six days after publication of the docu ...

. She volunteered as a

Freedom School Rampart College, also referred to as the Freedom College was an unaccredited American libertarian educational institution established in 1956 by Robert LeFevre in Colorado. The college was a four-year school for followers of LeFevre's autarchism ...

teacher in

Holly Springs, Mississippi Holly Springs is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Mississippi, Marshall County, Mississippi, United States, near the border with Tennessee to the north. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 6,96 ...

, for

Freedom Summer Freedom Summer, also known as Mississippi Freedom Summer (sometimes referred to as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project), was a campaign launched by civil rights movement, American civil rights activists in June 1964 to r ...

. During her time in Mississippi, Allen was romantically involved with

Ralph Featherstone Ralph Featherstone (May 26, 1939 – March 9, 1970) was an American political activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Biography Featherstone was born in Washington, D.C. in 1939. After graduating from Washington D.C.’s Teac ...

, a black Freedom Summer organizer. During her senior year, she was an activist on campus and spoke for the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and later, the Student National Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emer ...

. She married African-American activist Robert L. Allen in 1965. Following her graduation from Carleton, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where she worked at an agency that found homes for foster children.

Women's liberation movement

Allen was a key activist in the white women's liberation movement and she advocated for greater attention to be given to racism within the movement. She co-founded

in 1967. The group planned the Jeannette Rankin Brigade action. Allen later left the group, criticizing their views of motherhood and rejection of traditional roles for women. She worked for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in early 1968. She moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where she joined the feminist group Sudsofloppen. Based on her experiences with the group, she wrote the influential pamphlet ''Free Space: A Perspective on the Small Group in Women's Liberation'', in which she outlined a four-stage method of

consciousness raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

. The work was influenced by

humanistic psychology Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force" ...

. She was editor for the newspaper of the Union Women's Alliance to Gain Equality ( Union WAGE). She was also involved with the Bridal Fair action of 1969, the

Miss America protest The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included put ...

, and

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

. She changed her name from Pamela Allen to Chude Pamela Allen. Allen collaborated with her first husband on the 1974 book ''Reluctant Reformers: Racism and Social Reform Movements in the United States''. She also writes poetry and has drafted two plays, ''The Uprising of the 20,000'' and ''Could We Be Heard''. Allen is featured in the feminist history film ''

She's Beautiful When She's Angry ''She's Beautiful When She's Angry'' is a 2014 American documentary film about some of the women involved in the second-wave feminism, second-wave feminist movement in the United States. It was directed by Mary Dore and co-produced by Nancy Ken ...

''. Allen is a member of the Bay Area Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement. She lives in San Francisco.

Education and civil rights movement activism

Women's liberation movement

References

Further reading