Loading...
Creator
Women's Action Coalition (New York, N.Y.)
Call number
MssCol 3376
Physical description
20 linear feet (33 boxes, 7 videotapes)
Preferred Citation

Women's Action Coalition Records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The Women's Action Coalition (WAC) was a feminist direct-action organization founded in 1992 to fight discrimination against women. Its members held colorful demonstrations in support of women's rights, using a drum corps and the slogan "WAC is watching. We will take action." The Coalition's records contain administrative files, committee files, subject files, photographs, printed material, video recordings, as well as posters, placards, banners, and props used during protest demonstrations.

Biographical/historical information

On January 28, 1992, a group of ten to fifteen friends from the New York art world called a meeting, entitled "Women strategizing in the 90's". There were many reasons these women felt frustrated and angry, but the chief catalyst for the meeting was the recent confirmation of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court Justice after Anita Hill's testimony that he sexually harassed her. Between seventy-five and one hundred women came to this meeting, and the group decided to become a direct-action organization, similar to ACT-UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and the Women's Health Action Coalition (WHAM). They immediately voted on the initials "WAC". After a dispute over whether the "A" should stand for "Action" or "Artists", their name officially became Women's Action Coalition.

WAC's first action, at a sexual assault trial involving students from St. John's University, took place six days later. At that time, WAC created its signature "blue dot" logo (see examples in administrative and photographs series), modeled after television's way of obscuring rape victims' faces on camera. Members founded the drum corps, which performed at all subsequent actions. In addition slogans announced, "Let women define rape". WAC was born.

By the second meeting, WAC had 200 participants. By the fourth, and for the rest of the summer of 1992, about 300 women attended every Tuesday. Members created a phone tree and then discarded it as useless, when the number of NYC women involved in some way grew to thousands. The women in WAC were, for the most part, from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Most were white, many were well-educated, and many were artists and freelance workers, allowing them time to be active in the coalition.

WAC conducted its meetings in a nonhierarchical manner, loosely following "Robert's Rules of Order" and modeled after those of ACT-UP. They were led by facilitators and everything was voted on by everyone. However WAC's quick growth soon made it impossible to bring all inquiries to the floor. Members created committees for specific actions and issues.

WAC was extremely visible and well organized. Their numerous actions were well-publicized and executed. In addition to the above mentioned action at the St. John's University rape trial, they also demonstrated at the trial of several members of a Glen Ridge, NJ high school football team accused of sodomizing a mentally-challenged classmate; at the Pace Gallery and Guggenheim Museum to protest the near- exclusion of women artists; and at the Democratic and Republican national conventions.

WAC's mission statement, created by the media committee, contained the memorable phrase, "WAC is watching. We will take action." Art journals described their graphics as timely and thought-provoking, as well as impressive artistically, and their actions often demonstrated a flair for the theatrical. Media coverage led to mass interest in the organization. Letters to WAC poured in from women across the country who read about WAC in women's magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, and who were eager to get involved.

WAC's seemingly nonstop actions lasted well into 1993. However, WAC's internal difficulties eventually rose to the surface. Issues of race and class diversity and ethnic and sexual identity, though discussed by committees such as the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and the Lesbian Caucus, caused WAC to lose its direction. Member Tracy Ann Essoglou, in her essay, "Louder than Words: A WAC Chronicle," points to differing levels of political activist experience and WAC's "action, action, action" tendency, which prevented earlier dialogues on matters of diversity. WAC's numbers dwindled to seven or eight, and the groups last meeting was on November 6, 1995.

WAC Selected Bibliography

The 1993 One Show, Every Women is The Ideal Woman, n.p. 1993

Broude, Norma and Mary D. Garrad, eds. The Power of Feminist Art, The American Movement of The 1970s, History and Impact, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, 1994, pp. 47, 90, 101, 102-103, 155, 164, 267

Dorman, Mary, WAC is Watching, Visions Magazine, Fall 1992, 49-51

Edelson, Mary Beth, The Art of Mary Beth Edelson, New York City, n.p., 2002

Felshin, Nina, ed. But Is It Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism, Seattle, Washington, Bay Press Inc., 1995, pp 333-372 Findlen, Barbara, ed. Listen Up Voices the Next Feminist Generation, Seattle, Washington, Seal Press, 1995, pp. 208, 239-248

Gaylor, Annie Laurie, Woe to the Women-The Bible Tells Me So. The Bible, Female Sexuality and the Law, Madison Wisconsin, Freedom From Religion Foundation, 1988 4th printing

Houppert, Karen, WAC Strikes Back Feminism In Your Face: The Women's Action Coalition Confronts Sexism in the Media, The Courts, and on the Streets. The Village Voice, 9 June 1992, 33-38

Houppert, Karen, WAC's Big Break-up: The Women's Action Coalition Combusts, The Village Voice, 20 July, 1993

Referral Guide to Health and Social Services for The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities of New York City, Office of Gay and Lesbian Health Concerns, New York City Department of Health, 1993, May

WAC is Watching. We Will Take Action. Bomb Artists Writers Actors Directors, Winter 1993 pp46-47

WAC Stats, The Facts About Women, The Women's Action Coalition, ISBN No. 0-9635162-0-5

Scope and arrangement

The Women's Action Coalition Records trace the rise and fall of a direct-action group often considered part of the "Third Wave" of feminism in the early 1990s. The records are almost entirely those of WAC-New York, although there are files on the activities of WAC Boston and scattered files about other chapters. The bulk of the material dates from 1992 and 1993.

The Coalition's records contain administrative, committee, action, and subject files. Photographs, mostly taken by WAC members, T-shirts and stickers, press clippings documenting WAC's activities, and an extensive collection of banners, posters, placards, and props used in demonstrations capture the feeling and composition of the organization. Video recordings cover WAC actions and include Laura Cottingham's video oral history concerning her participation in the organization.

The Women's Action Coalition records are arranged in nine series:

  • Series I. Administrative files
    1989-2003, undated

    The administrative files consist of a certificate of incorporation, meeting minutes, guidelines for facilitators and treasurers, proposals and correspondence relating to the publication of WAC Stats, contact lists, guidelines for starting a WAC chapter, files on WAC chapters in other cities, copies of the WAC logo and stationery, press lists, and WAC Circle, its bimonthly publication.

  • Series II. Subject files
    1992-1997, undated

    This series contains brochures and reports on subjects of special interest to women. They include breast cancer, rape, sexual harassment, abortion, police brutality, women in prison, teenage reproductive issues, portrayal of women in the media, and violence against women.

    Some files contain information on events to which WAC responded not with direct action, but through formal and informal letter writing campaigns. Some of these campaigns concerned the naming of a pub after Jack the Ripper, a degrading article in the Harvard Law Review about a deceased feminist lawyer, and "pro-life" advertising on TBS (Turner Broadcasting System). There is also information about other women's and feminist organizations.

    Several folders contain newspaper clippings and magazine articles drawn from New York City metropolitan area publications, national popular magazines, like Cosmopolitan and Ms.; as well as art journals.

  • Series III. Committee files
    1992-1993, undated

    This series contains information about some of the many committees that helped WAC plan its activities. They include Action Planning, Coordination, Facilitator, Finance, Media Watch and Outreach. As time went on, two committees became the most volatile: the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, and the Lesbian Caucus. These committees brought "consciousness raising" issues before a large and extremely diverse group of women.

  • Series IV. Actions
    1992-1994

    This series contains proposals, planning information and ideas, leaflets, and news clippings about many of WAC's protest actions. The first file contains WAC's chronology of its actions. Included are files on the St. John's University action, Mother's and Father's Day, pink slips for Bush and Quayle, the Glen Ridge high school rape trial, the 1992 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, and the March on Washington (March for Women's Lives). In addition, there is information about the Pace Gallery and SoHo Guggenheim actions which protested the absence of women artists and artists of color in art shows.

    There is also information about less direct action-oriented projects such as Art In The Anchorage and the Postcards to Bill Clinton campaign. Also included is a file containing many of the Request for Coverage letters concerning these actions.

  • Series V. Correspondence
    1992-1994, undated

    The correspondence contains letters from women all over the United States asking WAC for information. The letters also included words of encouragement, support, and agreement with WAC's ideals. Some women volunteered to start a branch of WAC in their hometowns, though this correspondence does not indicate any follow-through.

    The correspondence came from an enormously diverse group of women, representing both urban and rural women, and all ages, from teenagers to senior grandmothers. Frequently the correspondents mentioned discovering WAC through articles published in Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, New York, Elle, and Sassy. A small number of the letters are very personal, talking about violence and rape, and some of these letters ask directly for help.

  • Series VI. Photographs
    1991-1995, undated

    This series contains photographs taken by members of WAC, including Mary Beth Edelson, Terise Slotkin, and Harriet Zucker. The majority of photographs are black and white, although there are some color snapshots of meetings and actions.

  • Series VII. Artifacts
    circa 1992-1993

    This series contains chiefly props used in WAC actions, including drums, pink slips, dildos, stickers, and T-shirts.

  • Series VIII. Banners, placards, and posters
    circa 1992-1993

    This series contains banners, placards and posters. The banners are quite large and unwieldy, but are in good condition. Most of them are black or white fabric. Box 23 contains three banners from the action against Senator Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY). The placards used at the 1992 Republican National Convention are currently stored flat although they were in a triangular prism shape when used.

  • Series IX. Video recordings
    1992, 1995, undated

    This series contains video footage by and about WAC. The Rudy Watch series, created and produced by WAC, aired on public access television. Included in the episodes are on-the-street interviews with women about their opinion of Rudolph Giuliani's job performance as mayor of New York and other reports on topics of special interest to WAC members. The Year in WAC 1992 was a documentary produced by Lifetime Television.

    Of special interest is the video oral history of Laura Cottingham, a member of WAC-NYC. In her video, which she produced to accompany gift of the WAC Records to the New York Public Library, she describes her part in the organization and her reasons for leaving the coalition. The WAC-Boston video contains clips and reports of actions taken by the Boston chapter during 1995.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Pat DeAngelis for the Women's Action Coalition, 1994-1997, 2003

Processing information

Processed by Briar Sauro; revised by Leslie Reyman.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Access restrictions

Correspondence series (box 13) is closed until 2075.