Revolutionizing Expectations

In the 1970s the womens movement created tremendous changes in the lives of women throughout the United States. Millions of women participated in a movement that fundamentally altered the countrys ideas about how women could and should contribute to American society. Revolutionizing Expectations tells the story of some of those women, many of whom took part in the movement in unexpected ways. By looking at feminist activism in Durham, Denver, and Indianapolis, Melissa Estes Blair uncovers not only the work of local NOW chapters but also the feminist activism of Leagues of Women Voters and of womens religious groups in those pivotal cities. Through her exploration of how womens organizations that were not explicitly feminist became channels for feminism, Blair expands our understanding of who feminists were and what feminist action looked like during the high tide of the womens movement. Revolutionizing Expectations looks beyond feminisms intellectual leaders and uncovers a multifaceted womens movement of white, African American, and Hispanic women from a range of political backgrounds and ages who worked together to bring about tremendous changes in their own lives and the lives of generations of women who followed them.