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Collection Overview |
| Title: |
The Coalition to Take Back
the Night records |
| Date: |
1978-1991 |
| Location Code: | 65/3, FF4/D1 |
| Reference Code: | M142 |
| 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. |
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Subjects and Contributors: |
- Take Back the Night (Organization)
- Protest movements — Massachusetts — Boston
- Victims of violent crimes
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| Conditions Governing Access: | The collection is unrestricted. |
| Processor: | Finding aid prepared by Rebecca Parmer,
February 2008 |
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Historical Note
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| 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.
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| Chronology |
| 1976 | Women participate in evening demonstration at the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women in Belgium. |
| 1977 | In London, women participate in Reclaim the Night demonstration in Leeds. |
| 1978 |
Protesters attending an anti-pornography conference in San Francisco hold
the first stateside Take Back the Night rally. |
| 1978 | In August, Boston women organize a “Women Unite, Take Back the Night” demonstration drawing 3,000 supporters. |
| 1979 | Coalition cosponsors a day of women's safety workshops for Cambridgeport women. |
| 1980 | Harvard University hosts its first Take Back the Night demonstration. |
| 1981 | Boston Take Back the Night demonstration draws over 6,000 participants. |
| 1982 | Concerns over racism in the structure of Coalition demonstrations prompts organizers to cancel the Take Back the Night rally. |
| 1991 |
Harvard University hosts a week-long Take Back the Night program including
poetry readings, film screenings and panel discussions. |
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