PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:
No 20th century woman did as much to change our thinking about the proper roles of women and men as Betty Friedan. When the Peoria native wrote The Feminine Mystique, she may have been intending simply to rebel against the idea of happy domesticity, but she ended up making her mark on history.
Barb Drake, retired Journal Star editorial page editor, will talk about that mark and the considerable role her Peoria upbringing played in making it at 2 p.m. October 25 at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
The lecture is companion to an exhibit of work created by Illinois women artists during the 1940s and the 1950s, the period just before the 1963 publication of Friedan’s seminal work. The exhibit, which opens October 19, is entitled “Making Their Mark.”
There will also be a special exhibit of Friedan’s works and memorabilia in the glass case behind the registration desk on the first floor.
Drake interviewed Friedan at length in 1999 and is a member of the Betty Friedan Hometown Tribute Committee, which is dedicated to preserving her memory in her hometown. There is no charge for the speech, which will take place in the museum’s theater.
For more on Betty Friedan in Peoria, see the Tribute website hosted by Bradley University. - 30 -
