I was a child of the seventies, wearing loud plaid pants and trading football cards, with Free to Be You and Me on the record player. I didn’t know what an interesting time it was politically, but the adults in the room and on the news were discussing nuclear power, the Vietnam War, the Women’s Liberation movement, and other incomprehensible issues.

In 1971, the year I was born, an outspoken Jewish feminist from New York City was elected to the House of Representatives. Her name was Bella Abzug, nicknamed ‘battling Bella’ for her outspoken opposition to injustice, and she, I know now, is one of the people in my lifetime who helped to change this country for the better. Abzug was a leader of the Women’s Movement, a social activist, and a lawyer who took on dangerous civil rights cases in the South in the 1940’s. “Women have been trained to talk softly and carry a lipstick,” Abzug averred. Her congressional campaign slogan was “This woman’s place is in the House – the House of Representatives.”

Also in the auspicious year of 1971, Abzug, along with Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Gloria Steinem, Fannie Lou Hamer, and others, founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, an organization dedicated to increasing women’s political power. In addition to her devotion to gender equity and racial justice, Bella Abzug was an early champion of gay rights, introducing to Congress, along with former New York mayor, Ed Koch, the first federal gay rights bill, the Equality Act of 1974. And in 1975, Abzug traveled to Saigon as the only member of a congressional delegation opposed to our involvement in the Vietnam War, and subsequently helped to build broad support for a policy of disengagement.

Bella Abzug was born in the Bronx on July 24th, 1920, so tomorrow would have been her 99th birthday. When she passed away in 1998, a former aide noted “It wasn’t that she was the first woman in Congress. It was that she was the first woman to get in Congress and lead the way toward creating feminist presence.” Thank you, Battling Bella. Here’s to you, and to all of us who continue to shout loudly and stand tall, still fighting for freedom and justice for all.

Cheers,

Max