|
Collection Overview |
| Name of Creator: |
The Coalition to Take Back the Night (Boston, Mass.). |
| Title: |
The Coalition to Take
Back the Night records |
| Date: |
1978-1991 |
| Reference Code: | M142 |
| Location Code: | 65/3, FF4/D1 |
| Extent: |
0.35 cubic feet (1 manuscript box and 1 flat-file) |
| Scope and Content Abstract: |
This collection includes organizational, promotional and communication
documents concerning the development of Boston's first Take Back the
Night demonstrations. Meeting minutes, letters, brochures , flyers,
press releases and pamphlets outline the goals and activities of the
organization. Materials from the New York Take Back the Night event
demonstrates the relationship between the Boston Take Back the Night
and other similar anti-violence groups. |
| Historical Abstract: |
In 1978 a group of women from Boston area community organizations
gathered to organize demonstrations opposing acts of intimidation
and violence against women. The group modeled itself after an international
protest movement known as “Reclaim the Night,” which began
in Belgium in 1976 when women attending the International Tribunal
on Crimes Against Women walked through the streets carrying candles
to protest the continuation of violence against women. Protesters
in San Francisco held the first stateside Take Back the Night rally
in 1978 following an anti-pornography conference, and cities across
the United States followed suit soon after. The first Boston “Women
Unite, Take Back the Night” demonstration occurred on the evening
of August 26, 1978 and drew 3,000 supporters. Subsequent marches were
held annually. In the 1980s and 1990s the event expanded to include
panel discussions, film screening and workshops. The focus of Take
Back the Night widened to include gay and lesbian rights, gender equality,
sexuality in culture, and date rape education. In the 1990s colleges
and universities began hosting campus Take Back the Night events;
these rallies and marches continue nationally and internationally
to this day. |
| Language and Scripts: | Materials entirely in English. |
| System of Arrangement: | Arranged in one alphabetical sequence. |
| Subjects and Contributors: |
- Take Back the Night (Organization)
- Protest movements -- Massachusetts -- Boston
- Victims of violent crimes
|
| Conditions Governing Access: | The collection is unrestricted. |
| Processor: | Finding aid prepared by Rebecca Parmer,
February 2008 |
