Mary Whitmore Feminist Activism Collection

Mary Whitmore was a feminist activist who was especially notable for her support for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) beginning in 1977. She lived most of her life in the Pacific Northwest and where she worked as a bilingual education teacher, although she also travelled as part of her work as an activist.

In the late 1970s, Mary was a single mother living in Seattle. She became interested in the feminist movement and decided to attend the Washington State Conference for Women in Ellensburg in 1977. From that time onwards, she was a dedicated worker in support of passing the ERA and standing up for other feminist causes. She ran the "ERA Hotline," a telephone hotline that supplied daily recorded messages on feminist political activities, from 1979-1981. She was also part of a group who called themselves the "Chain Gang," (also known as the "Grassroots Group of Second Class Citizens"), who chained themselves to the Illinois State Legislature doors in 1982 to demand ratification of the ERA. She was one of 10 women who climbed over the White House fence in 1982 during the Reagan administration in a protest over the ERA. Whitmore moved to Oregon in the 1980s, eventually settling in Forest Grove. She ran for local office twice. Although always interested in political action, Whitmore got re-involved in feminist activism during the 2017 Women's Marches at the beginning of the President Trump administration. She worked to promote Women's History at local events and created many displays and protest placards on feminist issues.

Whitmore donated her collection to the Pacific University Archives in 2024 in the hopes that it might benefit women.