Dorothy Pitman Hughes

Dorothy Pitman Hughes (born Dorothy Jean Ridley; October 2, 1938 – December 1, 2022) was an American feminist, child-welfare advocate, activist, public speaker, author, and small business owner. Pitman Hughes co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance. Her activism and friendship with Gloria Steinem established racial balance in the nascent feminist movement. Family and early life Dorothy Jean Ridley was born on October 2, 1938, in Lumpkin, Georgia, to Lessie W. Ridley and Melton Lee Ridley. When Ridley was ten years old, her father was beaten and left for dead on the family's doorstep; the family believes it to be a crime committed by Ku Klux Klan members. In response to her family's experiences, Ridley decided as a child to devote her life to improving the circumstances of people through activism. Early career Ridley moved from Georgia to New York City in 1957, when she was nineteen. There she and her siblings sang in the group "Roger and the Ridley Sisters." Through the 1960s in New York, she worked as a salesperson, house cleaner, and nightclub singer. She began her activism by raising bail money for civil rights protesters. Ridley married Bill Pitman and they had a child before divorcing. Then Pitman met and married Clarence Hughes. In the late 1960s, needing care for her own children (by 1970, she had three daughters) Pitman Hughes organized a multiracial cooperative day care center on the West Side, the West 80th Community Childcare Center, which would be profiled by New York magazine columnist Gloria Steinem. Pitman Hughes and Steinem became friends, with Pitman Hughes, who was comfortable on stage, encouraging Steinem to begin speaking in public with her about the Women's Movement. The two of them traveled around the country for two years, sharing the stage. Based on the publicity the duo received, Pitman Hughes encouraged Steinem to found a female-operated media source, Ms. Magazine, with other partners, beginning as a special edition of New York. Although she is widely cited as co-founder, Pitman Hughes had no formal role at the magazine.