“joining together to fight society’s...

“Joining Together to Fight Society’s Injustices”

By:

Kristen Chelmow

Disaster at Three Mile Island

In March of 1979, Pennsylvania faced a nuclear crisis that held the world’s attention for four days, as the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, located within miles of the state’s capitol, experienced near catastrophic technical problems. On Wednesday, March 28 the Unit No. 2 plant on Three Mile Island experienced a meltdown as a result of the melting of uranium fuel rods due to a broken water pump. This resulted in a hydrogen explosion, alowing radiation to escape into the air. On Friday, March 30, Governor Dick Thornburgh ordered all residents to evacuate, and on Saturday, March 31, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) began to take measures to control the escaping radiation. On Sunday, April 1, President Carter and his wife visited Three Mile Island to gauge the situation and to reassure residents that officials had begun to take care of the problem. On Tuesday, April 3, the crisis gradually ended, as the hydrogen bubble disappeared, and people returned to their homes.

Aftermath and Outreach of TMI The nuclear scare caused many local residents to protest the presence of nuclear plants in their neighborhoods. One resident, Beverly Hess, led two anti‐nuclear campaigns in her community; the Susquehanna Valley Alliance (SVA) and the Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC). According to Hess, the SVA’s goal was to secure the safest possible cleanup of the incident. The disaster at Three Mile Island had already produced more than 850,000 gallons of radioactive waste water, 265,400 of which were discharged into the Susquehanna River. The SVA filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the dumping, and met with success. As a result, citizens gained the ability to challenge, in court, the release of radioactive water at TMI instead of first going through the administrative channels of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The SVA also provides an instance where an activist group led by a woman had a large, positive impact on the local anti‐nuclear movement. Women Take the Lead In addition to the SVA, Hess also created the Three Mile Island Public Interest Resource Center (TMI PIRC). Through her work with the SVA, Hess became the president of TMI PIRC, a group that connected six anti‐nuclear grassroots organizations, including the Anti‐Nuclear Group Representing York (ANGRY), the Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power (ECNP), Newberry Township TMI Steering Committee (NTSC), People Against Nuclear Energy (PANE), the SVA, and Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA). The TMI PIRC sought to educate the nation about the Three Mile Island accident and the clean‐up of TMI‐2. The PIRC met with success in its first year of existence and brought together local, national, and regional anti‐nuclear groups while increasing the organizations’ publicity. Hess’s work as a leader in two successful Environmental grassroots organizations also demonstrates that women commanded respect and authority across social movements during the 1970s and 1980s. The Three Mile Island accident allowed the anti‐nuclear and feminist movements to come together. When compared to other social movements throughout the country, the anti‐nuclear movement provided women with greater leadership opportunities. Although their involvement in the anti‐nuclear movement differed greatly from women’s participation in the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 70s, the two movements came together to fight the use of nuclear power for different reasons. The Women’s Liberation Movement joined the anti‐nuclear movement to protest women’s low status, while women involved in the anti‐nuclear movement did not seek to increase women’s status outside of the home. While the goals and techniques of these two separate movements were different, the incident at TMI brought them together to fight for a common cause.

1

Kristen Chelmow

Senior Seminar MW 3:30-4:45

Dr. Dieterich-Ward

April 13, 2009

Joining Together to Fight Society’s Injustices

The 1970s represented a time where people came together in grassroots organizations to

solve America’s social problems. The major movements that evolved during this time include

the Vietnam War protests, the Women’s Movement, and the Environmental Movement. This

paper will focus on the Women’s Movement and the Environmental Movement to show that the

Women’s Movement impacted the Environmental Movement by setting precedence for women’s

activism. A discussion of environmental and women’s historians will show connections between

the two movements, and a focus on Beverly Hess’s participation in the anti-nuclear movement

will demonstrate how women took leadership positions, and protested poor environmental

conditions. A look at both environmental and women’s history scholarship demonstrates

similarities between the two social causes.

Although various social movements emerged in the United States during the 1960s and

1970s, today, many scholars and historians choose to conduct comprehensive research on a

particular social issue rather than discuss a broader view of the interconnectivity of issues to one

another. For example, some scholars either examine the Environmental Movement or the

Women’s Movement, while others discuss the overlap of the two movements. An analysis of a

variety of sources will show that when one looks at two or more grassroots movements from the

decade of the 1970s, one gains a greater understanding of the relationship that the movements

have to each other, thus providing a greater appreciation of the 1970s American culture. Several

2

historians view the Environmental Movement and the Women’s Movement as two separate

causes that have little or nothing in common.

When writing about the Environmental Movement or the Women’s Movement, some

historians only concentrate on one mobilization, and make no mention of the other. For

example, Kuzmiak’s article “The American Environmental Movement” traces “. . . the evolution

of the American Environmental Movement” from the 1800s to 1990.1 Kuzmiak explains why

environmental concerns increased, and the measures that the citizens and government took to

improve the environment throughout America from the 1800s to 1990.2 In his discussion of the

1970s, Kuzmiak describes the government’s response to the environmental problems in great

detail.3 However, while he does briefly mention the Vietnam War and the racial tensions that

existed at this time, Kuzmiak fails to explain the direct impact that they have on the

environmental activism that took place.4 Furthermore, Kuzniak does not mention the Women’s

Rights Movement, which also occurred at this time.5 Finally, Kuzmiak states that “. . . various

cultural and interest groups . . .” participated in the Environmental Movement, but does not

mention specific groups or describe any actions that groups or individuals took.6 Similarly,

Jungck’s article, “Wangari Maathai, ‘Afforestation of the Desert,’” while discussing the goals

that “. . . Maathai, a Kenyan biologist [and] the founder of the ‘Green Belt movement, [has] to

reforest the country and prevent diversification,” does not explain the significance of her

gender.7 Both Kuzmiak and Jungk detail specific environmental issues.

1 D. T. Kuzmiak, “The American Environmental Movement,” The Geographical Journal 157, no. 3 (1991): 265,

268-274. 2 Ibid., 268-274.

3 Ibid., 271-272.

4 Ibid., 272.

5 Ibid., 272.

6 Ibid., 272.

7 John R. Jungck, “Wangari Maathai, ‘Afforestation of the Desert,’” The American Biology teacher 47, no. 2 (1985):

76, 90.

3

Kuzmiak focuses on the United States’ environmental problems while Jungk describes

the environmental crises impacting Kenya. For example, in the 1970s, Americans needed “. . . to

address issues of water and air pollution, insecticides, waste management and radiation,” 8

while

in Kenya, Maathai sought to prevent desertification.9 This difference highlights the comparisons

between global environmental movements. While Kuzmiak and Jungk only discuss

Environmental Movements in their articles, Barbara Epstein’s article, “The Successes and

Failures of Feminism” provides an analysis focusing on the Women’s Movement and discusses

other movements of the era.

Epstein’s article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the Women’s Movement to

determine how women can continue to gain equality today.10

Epstein clearly conveys the

strengths and weaknesses of the 1970s Women’s Movement, and makes a strong connection

between the Women’s Movement and other grassroots movements, such as The Vietnam War

demonstrations and the racial conflicts.11

However, Epstein fails to discuss specific females who

held leadership positions not only within the Women’s Movement, but other movements as well.

Epstein’s article reveals that the Women’s Movement and the Environmental Movement

weakened for a similar reason. Epstein believes that women today feel as if they do not need to

continue the fight for equality, because during “. . . the 1960s and 1970s . . . the liberal wing of

feminism accomplished the concrete victories.”12

In “The American Environmental Movement,”

Kuzmiak cites Dunlap who, like Epstein, “. . . believes that . . . the creation of regulatory

agencies and laws designed to solve problems . . . lead[s] the public to assume that the issue is

8 Kuzmiak,“The American Environmental Movement,” 271.

9 Jungck, “Wangari Maathai, 76.

10 Barbara Epstein, “The Successes and Failures of Feminism,” Journal of Women’s History 14, no. 2 (2002): 118.

11 Ibid., 118+, 122-123.

12 Ibid., 121.

4

being rectified by government regulations and actions.”13

This similarity reveals a trend in

grassroots movements. While some scholars concentrate on the two social movements

separately, other academics analyze in detail both the 1970s Environmental and Women’s

Movements.

Scholars have started to see a correlation between women’s participation in the

Environmental Movement, and their engagement in the Women’s Movement. A chapter entitled

“Ecofeminist Antimilitarism and Strategic Essentialisms,” in Sturgeon’s book, Ecofeminist

Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action,” explains that Three Mile Island

started to unite the “feminist, lesbian, disarmament, anti-nuclear, and ecology” movements.14

The citizens involved in the movements saw themselves as “. . . resist[ing] male violence against

the living world.”15

Similarly, Noel Sturgeon’s look at Ynestra King, a prominent ecofeminist

activist, and her response to Three Mile Island, demonstrates a definite connection between the

1970s Women’s Movement, a variety of other social movements, and the Environmental

Movement.16

In particular, this case study distinctly explains why women from the liberation

movement wanted to become involved with the anti-nuclear movement.17

However, while

Sturgeon provides adequate background information on King, she fails to mention any other

prominent members from the other movements who worked with King.18

King describes their

involvement in the anti-nuclear movement as “. . . taking the toys away from the boys.”19

This

viewpoint relates to Peeples’ and DeLuca’s article “The Truth of the Matter: Motherhood,

Community and Environmental Justice.”

13

Kuzmiak, “The American Environmental Movement,” 266-267. 14

Ynestra King qtd. in Noel Sturgeon, “Ecofeminist Antimilitarism and Strategic Essentialisms” in Ecofeminist

Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action (New York: Routledge, 1997), 62. 15

Ibid., 62. 16

Ibid., 62-63. 17

Ibid., 62. 18

Ibid., 61-69. 19

Ibid., 62.

5

Peeples and Deluca analyze the success of the women taking part in the Environmental

Justice movement, and attribute it to the women’s use of “. . . their gender-especially their roles

as mothers and housewives . . . .”20

For example, women justify their environmental advocacy

by showing themselves as good, caring mothers who want to ensure the health and safety of their

families.21

Although Peeples and DeLuca make a logical argument, and provide many examples

to back it up, they assume that all women involved in the environmental justice movement have

experienced motherhood or want to become mothers.22

This perpetuates the belief that every

woman has a natural maternal instinct. Additionally, the article does not tell the reader that

diverse women who held a variety of beliefs and values participated in the Environmental

Movement.23

Peeples and DeLuca and Sturgeon show how women used their gender roles to

become involved in the Environmental Movement. Biermann and Bradley’s article, “The Gaias

(Earth Mothers) of the Ecological/ Conservation Movements” describes the struggles and

achievements of a variety of women, including Maathai, involved in environmental movements

in the United States and abroad.24

Biermann and Bradley’s perspective differ from Jungck’s perspective. Biermann and

Bradley explain that Maathai “has become a leading environmentalist in Africa despite

tremendous pressures to cease her activities,” but they do not mention the specific environmental

problems tied to desertification.25

While Jungck lists the poor environmental conditions

resulting from desertification that “. . . Maathai has drawn attention to,” he does not mention the

20

Jennifer A. Peeples and Kevin M. DeLuca, “The Truth of the Matter: Motherhood, Community and

Environmental Justice,” Women’s Studies in Communication 29, no. 1 (2006): 61. 21

Ibid., ,” 61 -71. 22

Ibid.,” 71. 23

Ibid., 59+. 24

Carol A. Biermann and Rosa M. Bradley, “The Gaias (Earth Mothers) of the Ecological/Conservation

Movements,” The American Biology Teacher 61, no. 4 (1999): 252. 25

Ibid., 255.

6

struggles that Maathai has had to overcome as she leads the Kenyan Greenbelt Movement.26

This significant difference between the two readings stems from the fact that “The Gaias (Earth

Mothers) of the Ecological/ Conservation Movements,” specifically addresses women’s

participation in the Environmental Movement,27

whereas “Wangari Maathai, ‘Afforestation of

the Desert’” seems more concerned in discussing the environmental problems plaguing Kenya,

and Maathai’s role in improving environmental conditions.28

As a result, Jungck’s article

provides minimal information on Maathai’s background. Although the secondary literature on

the Environmental Movement and Women’s Movement discusses the two movements

separately, one can find strong connections between global environmental movements, and those

who participate in the Environmental and Women’s movements. The 1979 Three Mile Island

nuclear accident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania showcases the correlation between

environmental concerns and female activism.

On Wednesday, March 28, 1979 the Unit No. 2 plant on Three Mile Island experienced a

meltdown as a result of “uranium fuel rods melt[ing],” because of “. . . a broken water pump . . .

.”29

This caused a “. . . hydrogen explosion . . .” which resulted in radiation escaping into the air

for three days.30

On Friday, March 30, Governor Dick Thornburgh ordered all residents to

evacuate, and on Saturday, March 31, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) began to take

measures to control the radiation by “. . . installing lead bricks around a hydrogen combiner,

designed to convert hydrogen transferred from the reactor into water by combining it with

26

Jungck, “Wangari Maathai,” 76, 90. Direct quote comes from page 76. 27

Biermann and Bradley, “The Gaias (Earth Mothers) of the Ecological/Conservation Movements,” 252-256. 28

.Jungck, “Wangari Maathai,” 76, 90. 29

“Chronology of Events at Three Mile Island,” The News, April 4, 1979, 9, in Harold and Lucinda Denton Papers,

1978-1999, Manuscript Group 471, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 30

Ibid.

7

oxygen.”31

On Sunday, April 1, President Carter and his wife visited Three Mile Island to gauge

the situation, and reassure residents that officials had begun to take care of the problem.32

On

Tuesday, April 3, the crisis gradually ended, as “. . . the hydrogen bubble that once threatened

disaster . . .” disappeared, and people started to come back to their homes.33

In March of 1979, Pennsylvania faced a nuclear crisis that held the world’s attention for

four days as the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, located within miles of the state’s capitol,

experienced near catastrophic technical problems. In the aftermath of this event, residents within

the Commonwealth organized and protested the continued use of nuclear power plants. One

individual, Beverly Hess, formed the Susquehanna Valley Alliance (SVA) and the Public Interest

Resource Center (PIRC). This case study will show how women took charge, and held

leadership positions within the Environmental Movement, and show how the 1960s and 70s

Women’s Liberation Movement influenced their actions. As current public officials look

towards the future use of nuclear energy and the construction of power plants, Three Mile Island

continues to signify the concern of living within the shadows of an energy source that relies on

constant oversight and management of dangerous materials that can kill people, wildlife and

nature. The nuclear scare caused many local residents to protest the presence of nuclear plants in

their neighborhoods. One resident, Beverly Hess, led two anti-nuclear campaigns in her

community.

Beverly Hess, a Lancaster County resident, helped form the SVA in April 1979,

following the nuclear incident at Three Mile Island.34

According to Hess, the SVA wanted “. . .

31

“Chronology of Events at Three Mile Island,” The News, April 4, 1979, 9, in Harold and Lucinda Denton Papers,

1978-1999, Manuscript Group 471, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 32

Ibid. 33

Ibid. 34

Beverly Hess, Interview, April 24, 1980, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson

College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

8

to secure the safest possible clean-up of TMI.”35

The Three Mile incident had already produced

“ . . . more than 850,000 gallons of radioactive waste water from the primary coolant system,”

and “. . . 265,400 gallons of radioactive water were discharged into the Susquehanna River.”36

The organization filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the dumping, the NRC and Met Ed,

the owner of the Three Mile Island plant.

The SVA’s lawsuit proved successful, because it created a new court procedure. The

SVA filed a lawsuit against the NRC and Met Ed, because “. . . the NRC approved Met Ed’s plan

to decontaminate the reactor, which would include discharge of 250, 000 gallons of radioactive

water from the auxiliary building and holding tanks into the Susquehanna.”37

The lawsuit

resulted in citizens having the ability to “. . . challenge in court the release of radioactive water at

TMI . . .,” instead of first going “. . . through the administrative channels of the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission.”38

In addition to successfully changing the process to file a lawsuit, the

SVA educated people on the harmful effects of nuclear power, and participated in “. . .

alternative energy programs.”39

Specifically, the SVA advocated replacing nuclear power with

“. . . conservation and the development of safe, renewable energy sources.”40

The SVA

provides an instance where an activist group led by a woman had a large, positive impact on the

35


College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 36

Ibid. 37

“A Chronology of SVA vs. NRC and Met Ed,” Susquehanna Valley Alliance, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess

Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle,

Pennsylvania. 38

Ibid. 39

“Susquehanna Valley Alliance,” Appendix C, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson

College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 40

“Susquehanna Alliance,” in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-

Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

9

local anti-nuclear movement. In addition to forming an activist organization, Hess acted

independently of grassroots organizations.

Hess personally protested Three Mile Island through letters and correspondence with

international anti-nuclear groups. She wrote a letter to the President, management, and owners

of the electric company, P.P.L., stating that she would not pay 10 percent of her electric bill,

until the company stopped building a nuclear plant at Susquehanna Steam Station, Berwick.41

Hess also worked with Katagiri Mitsuru, an anti-nuclear activist in Japan. In a letter dated

March 10, 1980, Mitsuru requested that Hess provide a statement regarding Three Mile Island

that would go out to the public in Japan on March 28th

, a year after the incident occurred.

Mitsuru assured Hess that “we didn’t forget the Three Mile Island accident and that there are

people in the region. We want your words!”42

During this time, Hess also created the Three

Mile Island Public Interest Resource Center (TMI PIRC).43

Through her work with the SVA,

Hess became president of TMI PIRC. TMI PIRC connected six anti-nuclear grassroots

organizations, including Anti-Nuclear Group Representing York (ANGRY), Environmental

Coalition on Nuclear Power (ECNP), Newberry Township TMI Steering Committee (NTSC),

People Against Nuclear Energy (PANE), the SVA, and Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA).44

The

TMI PIRC sought to educate the nation “. . . about the Three Mile Island accident, the clean-up

of TMI-2, and related issues.”45

The PIRC had a lot of success in its first year of existence. For

41

Letter from Beverly M. Hess to the President, management, and owners of P.P.L, November 21, 1979, in Three

Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special

Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 42

Letter from Katagiri Mitsuru to Beverly and Richard, March 10, 1980, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers,

1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 43

“Proposal for the PIRC,” 1, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-

Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 44

“Proposal for the Three Mile Island Legal Fund,” 10, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990,

Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 45

“Proposal for the PIRC,” 1, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-

Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

10

example, it brought together “. . . local, national, and regional” anti-nuclear groups, and

increased organizations’ publicity.46

They had many accomplishments, one of which included

aiding the SVA in their lawsuit against Met Ed by “providing research and technical documents

on the cleanup . . . .” 47

The PIRC also educated the public by providing “. . . issue seminars,

skill building workshops, outreach programs, alternative energy programs, legislative education,

and technical analysis.”48

Hess’s work as a leader in two successful Environmental grassroots

organizations demonstrates that women commanded respect and authority across social

movements during the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, The Three Mile Island accident allowed the

anti-nuclear and feminist movements to come together.49

Compared to other social movements in the country, the anti-nuclear movement provided

women with leadership opportunities. Marci R. Culley and Holly L. Angelique point out that in

the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War protests, men held “. . . formal leadership

positions and devise[d] strategies,” while women organized.50

By participating in the SVA and

PIRC, Hess received the opportunity to publicly discuss the Three Mile Island incident, and the

harmful effects that nuclear power has on communities, as well as put together two

organizations, one of which required working with six groups at one time.51

Women’s

involvement in the anti-nuclear movement differed greatly from women’s participation in the

46

“Proposal for the Three Mile Island Legal Fund,” 3, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990,


Proposal for the Three Mile Island Legal Fund,” 4, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990,


“Three Mile Island Public Interest Resource Center (TMIPIRC), 7, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers,

1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 49

Ynestra King qtd. in Noel Sturgeon, “Ecofeminist Antimilitarism and Strategic Essentialisms” in Ecofeminist

Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action (New York: Routledge, 1997), 62. 50

Marci R. Culley and Holly L. Angelique, “Women’s Gendered Experiences,” Gender and Society 17.3 (June

2003), 445-461. 51

Beverly Hess, Interview, April 24, 1980; “Proposal for the Three Mile Island Legal Fund,” 10, in Three Mile

Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special

Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

11

Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 70s, but the two movements did come together

to fight the use of nuclear power, although for different reasons.

The two greatest differences between the two groups of activist women involved their

reasons for protesting and their methods of protesting. Women who took part in the feminist

movement wanted equality between the sexes, and fought against sex discrimination in the

workforce, as well as called for women’s reproductive rights.52

Women involved in the anti-

nuclear movement on the other hand, did not necessarily seek to increase women’s status outside

the home. In fact, according to Giovanna di Choro, mothers took part in the environmental

movement, because they believed that businesses and the government demonstrated a complete

“. . . disregard for the lives of their children.”53

As the mother of two children, Hess supports

this viewpoint.54

Hess pursued environmental activism, because she wanted to protect the lives

of her husband and children. Despite their differences, the two movements united to fight the use

of nuclear power.

The Women’s Liberation Movement joined the anti-nuclear movement, because they

wanted to protest women’s low status. According to Ynestra King, The Women’s Liberation

Movement became involved after hearing men “. . . refer to the runaway nuke as a ‘her’ who

needed to be ‘cooled’ down.”55

Feminists began to participate in the nuclear movement, because

they wanted to fight sexist attitudes surrounding the Three Mile Island accident. They did not

protest out of concern for the health of their families like the women involved in the anti-nuclear

movement. In addition to having different reasons for becoming involved in the nuclear

52

Nancy Woloch, “High Expectations: 1950-1975” in Women and the American Experience (New York: McGraw-

Hill, 2006), 517-521. 53

Giovanna di Choro qtd. in Jennifer A. Peeples and Kevin M. Deluca, “The Truth of the Matter: Motherhood,

Community and Environmental Justice,” Women’s Studies in Communication 29, no. 1 (2006): 69. 54

“2 Countians on 3 Mile Forum,” Lancaster, P.A., New Era, May 10, 1979, 32, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess

Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle,

Pennsylvania. 55

Ynestra King qtd. in Noel Sturgeon, “Ecofeminist Antimilitarism and Strategic Essentialisms,” 62.

12

movement, the Women’s Liberation Movement and the women participating in the anti-nuclear

movement utilized diverse protest methods.

The Women’s Liberation Movement utilized more militant strategies to protest women’s

rights, while Hess practiced more passive resistance to protest nuclear power. The Women’s

Liberation Movement took part in “. . . sit-ins and street actions . . .” while Hess participated in a

variety of protest campaigns by herself, and as part of her two organizations. For example, she

refused to pay her entire electric bill, wrote letters to her electric company, worked with

international anti-nuclear movements, and supported a demonstration outside of the Limerick

Plant.56

One colleague even suggested that Hess include a protest song in her crusade against

nuclear power.57

The Limerick Plant demonstration and the protest song have similarities to the

protest methods used by the Women’s Liberation Movement, demonstrating that the Women’s

Liberation Movement had an impact on the women involved with the anti-nuclear movement.

The current secondary and primary literature reveals that the Women’s Movement and the

Environmental Movement influenced each other.

An analysis of secondary sources covering the 1970s American and African

Environmental Movements, as well as the Women’s Movement, and the activism that took place

within the various grassroots organizations who became involved will show that when one looks

at two or more grassroots movements from the decade of the 1970s, one sees definite ties

between the two social movements, thus providing a greater appreciation of the 1970s American

56

Letter from Beverly M. Hess to the President, management, and owners of P.P.L, November 21, 1979 in Three


Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.; letter from Katagiri Mitsuru to Beverly and Richard, March 10, 1980 in Three


Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.; “Minutes of Meeting of ‘Susquehanna Valley Alliance,’ April 18, 1979, in

Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990, Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and

Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 57

Letter from J.H. McCandless to Beverly Hess, August 9, in Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990,

Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

13

culture. When writing about the Environmental Movement or the Women’s Movement, most

historians only concentrate on one mobilization, and make no mention of the other. This

provides researchers with a limited scope of 1970s American culture. Some scholars have started

to see a correlation between women’s participation in the Environmental Movement, and their

engagement in the Women’s Movement. While this literature links social movements together,

it does not discuss the variety of women involved with the Environmental Movement. In order

to present a comprehensive understanding of two very significant decades of activism in

American history, researchers should not only focus on one particular issue from the 1960s and

1970s, but should address the interconnectivity of causes to better grasp the significance of

grassroots empowerment and the overall effect on American politics, law, businesses and

families. The local anti-nuclear activism that took place after the Three Mile Island accident

creates the link between the Women’s Movement and the Environmental Movement. By

providing a background on Three Mile Island, and detailing Hess’s participation in the anti-

nuclear movement that developed as a result of the Three Mile Island crisis, this case study will

demonstrate how women took charge, and held leadership positions within the Environmental

Movement, and show how the 1960s and 70s Women’s Liberation Movement influenced their

actions. The anti-nuclear movement emerged after the Unit No. 2 plant on Three Mile Island

experienced a nuclear crisis on Wednesday, March 28, 1979. Beverly Hess, a Lancaster County

resident, helped form the SVA in April 1979, following the nuclear incident at Three Mile

Island.58

Hess acted independently of grassroots organizations. Through her work with the

SVA, Hess became president of TMI PIRC. As the activism of Beverly Hess demonstrates,

compared to other social movements in the country, the anti-nuclear movement provided women

58


College Waidner-Spahr Library Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

14

with leadership opportunities. Their involvement in the anti-nuclear movement differed greatly

from women’s participation in the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 70s, but the

two movements did come together to fight the use of nuclear power, although for different

reasons. The Women’s Liberation Movement joined the anti-nuclear movement, because they

wanted to protest women’s low status, while women involved in the anti-nuclear movement did

not seek to increase women’s status outside the home. Additionally, the Women’s Liberation

Movement utilized militant strategies to protest women’s rights, while women participating in

the anti-nuclear movement devised passive resistance strategies to protest nuclear power. The

anti-nuclear movement and Women’s Liberation Movement shows that different social

movements can come together, and fight for a common cause.

15

Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources

Harold and Lucinda Denton Papers, 1978-1999. Manuscript Group 471. Pennsylvania State

Archives, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

This collection contains newspapers that covered the Three Mile Island accident. I will use this

collection to provide me with a detailed account of what happened at Three Mile Island on

March 28, 1979.

Maathai, Wangari. Unbowed: A Memoir. New York: Anchor Books, 2007.

This memoir presents Wangari Maathai’s life story. Wangari Maathai founded the Greenbelt

Movement in Kenya, and I plan to use this memoir to gain information on why she founded it,

and what activist techniques she used within the movement.

Three Mile Island-Beverly Hess Papers, 1979-1990. Dickenson College Waidner-Spahr Library

Archives and Special Collections, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

This collection contains correspondence between Beverly Hess, a founding member of the

Susquehanna Valley Alliance and the Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC), and other

members of these two organizations, as well as government officials, and her electric company.

It also contains documents pertaining to the history and activities of the Susquehanna Valley

Alliance. I will use this collection in my case study, because it provides me with information on

the Susquehanna Valley Alliance, a specific grassroots anti-nuclear movement founded by a

woman.

Secondary Sources

Biermann, Carol A. and Rosa M. Bradley. “The Gaias (Earth Mothers) of the

Ecological/Conservation Movements.” The American Biology Teacher 61, no. 4 (1999):

252-257.

This article discusses various women leaders in “the ecology/conservation movements” (252),

and includes Wangari Maathai in the discussion (255). This article provides me with a brief

biography that includes information on Maathai’s life and achievements.

Epstein Barbara. “The Successes and Failures of Feminism.” Journal of Women’s History 14,

no. 2 (2002): 118-125.

This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the first and second waves of feminism in

the United States. This provides me with a history of the 1970s Women’s Movement without

focusing on any one grassroots organization, allowing me to compare the development of the

Women’s Movement with the Environmental Movement.

16

Jungck, John R. “Wangari Maathai, ‘Afforestation of the Desert.’” The American Biology

Teacher 47, no. 2 (1985): 76, 90.

This article describes Wangari Maathai’s specific environmental concerns, and how she aims to

solve them. I will use this article to compare how women participated in Kenya’s Greenbelt

Movement with how they participated in the American Environmental Movement.

Kirk, Andrew G. Counterculture Green: The Whole Earth Catalog and American

Environmentalism. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2007.

This book discusses the different groups who took part in the environmental movement. I will

use this book’s bibliography to provide me with more primary sources related to women’s

participation in the Environmental Movement.

Kuzmiak, D. T. “The American Environmental Movement.” The Geographical Journal 157, no.

3 (1991): 265-278.

This article discusses the history of the American Environmental Movement, and the actions that

the Government and citizens have taken to preserve and protect the environment. This provides

me with a history of the Environmental Movement without focusing on any one grassroots

organization, allowing me to compare the development of the Environmental Movement with the

development of the Women’s Movement.

Peeples, Jennifer A., and Kevin M. DeLuca. “The Truth of the Matter: Motherhood, Community

and Environmental Justice.” Women’s Studies in Communication, Spring 2006, 59-87.

Peeples and DeLuca discuss women’s participation in Environmental Justice. They examine

how women use their femininity and gender roles within the movement. This allows me to see

how women participated in the Environmental Movement.

Sturgeon, Noel. “Ecofeminist Antimilitarism and Strategic Essentialisms.” In Ecofeminist

Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action, 59-75. New York:

Routledge, 1997.

This chapter explains how ecofeminism united different grassroots movements, and contains a

quote by Ynestra King, a “founder of the of the Conference on Women and Life on Earth, and a

primary organizer of the Women’s Pentagon Actions” (61), that explains how she used Three

Mile Island to unite the “feminist, lesbian, disarmament, anti-nuclear, and ecology movements

(62). I will use this section to prove that Three Mile Island demonstrates how the Women’s

Movement impacted the Environmental Movement.

Kristen Chelmow

Senior Seminar MW 3:30-4:45

Dr. Dieterich-Ward

April 30, 2009

Shippensburg University’s History B.A. Program: a Historiographical Analysis

Shippensburg University’s History B.A. program provides students with a well-rounded

education. Students not only get an in-depth look at specific countries around the world, but the

42 free credits allow students to specialize in their own area of interest. The History B.A.

program emphasizes writing skills primarily through book reviews and research papers. By

analyzing three papers, this essay will show that while Shippensburg University’s history

program provides adequate instruction on writing historically analytical papers under deadlines,

and provides research opportunities on a variety of subjects, the research primarily centers on

secondary sources, rather than teaches students how to use archives, and find primary sources.

My undergraduate work allowed me to develop my analytical and writing skills.

The majority of my history course writings from freshman year to senior year include

book reviews. These book reviews taught me how to develop strong arguments about a

historian’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, in my sophomore year at college, I took Dr.

Dessants’ Contemporary U.S. History course, where I wrote a book review on Charles Perry’s

The Haight-Ashbury: a History. My book review claimed that Perry’s book “provides insight

into how the hippie counter-culture and American society, as a whole, shared a growing

restlessness with American policy in Vietnam, but fails to show that it represented America with

regard to increased drug activity and poverty initiatives.”1 In my book review, I compared what

Perry argued with what the course textbooks, Present Tense and Major Problems in American

1 Kristen Chelmow, “Hip to the Times,” March 21, 2007.

History Since 1945, reported.2 This paper taught me how to tear apart what historians claimed in

their writing, and best represents the analytical skills that I developed as a history major.

However, like the other book reviews that I wrote as an undergraduate, it required minimal

research, and only allowed me to utilize secondary sources. For this paper, the professor only

required the class to use the two course textbooks. I did not have to find primary sources. I did

not have to find primary sources for any history paper, until my Theory and Practice paper with

Dr. Shaffer in my junior year.

Theory and Practice taught students how to write about history. It required students to

spend the whole semester developing a final primary-source based research paper. I chose to

focus my paper on women’s status in Hollywood during the Great Depression. I argued that

“during the Great Depression, Hollywood actresses defied America’s traditional gender roles by

not only portraying strong leading characters, but also by holding prominent business executive

positions in the industry, as evidenced by analyzing actresses’ careers, looking at the crew who

created the films, and comparing everyday gender roles of the 1930s to those practiced by

Hollywood actresses of the golden age.”3 Unlike the book review that I wrote on Perry’s book,

this paper required me to find primary sources, as well as secondary sources outside of the

required course materials. Most of my primary sources came from analyzing 1930s movie

posters and articles from 1930s gossip magazines, such as Photoplay and Modern Screen.4

Unfortunately, I could not conduct any archival work, because the archives I needed resided in

New York or California, and Shippensburg University’s library did not carry any entertainment

magazines from the 1930s. I did get to use the library’s microfilm for the first time, even though

I could not find any useful sources there. In addition to introducing me to microfilm, I learned

2 Kristen Chelmow, “Hip to the Times,” March 21, 2007.

3 Kristen Chelmow, “Gender in Hollywood during the Great Depression: a Case Study,” December 13, 2007.

4 Ibid.

how to interpret primary sources. I did not get introduced to archival research until my senior

year in Dr. Dieterich-Ward’s Senior Seminar course.

I did not receive any experience of going to the archives, and looking through their

collections until my senior capstone course. Like Theory and Practice, the Senior Seminar

allows students to have the whole semester to develop a primary-source based research paper. I

chose to compare the Women’s Movement with the Environmental Movement. My thesis states

that my “paper will focus on the Women’s Movement and the Environmental Movement to show

that the Women’s Movement impacted the Environmental Movement by setting a precedent for

women’s activism.”5 In completing this paper, I learned how to write a historiography, and a

case study. My book review did not need a historiography or case study, and my Theory and

Practice paper did not require that I write a separate historiography. Rather, the course required

me to use other historians to back up my statements, and I did not have to compare them to each

other. My Theory and Practice paper does contain two case studies which analyze the careers of

two actresses, Mary Pickford and Bette Davis, but due to my lack of access to Hollywood

archives, I primarily used secondary sources to write the case studies.6 Because I focused part of

my Senior Seminar paper on a local environmental concern, I did not have a hard time finding

primary sources at Dickenson College’s archives. Prior to going to Dickenson, I went to the

Pennsylvania State Archives for the first time. This marked the first time that I conducted

archival research. I learned that a person has to have a plan when they attend the archives. They

need to know what specific collections they need to look at ahead of time. This allows for more

research to get done in a limited amount of time. After four years in the Shippensburg

5 Kristen Chelmow, “Joining Together to Fight Society’s Injustices,” April 13, 2009.

6 Kristen Chelmow, “Gender in Hollywood during the Great Depression: a Case Study,” December 13, 2007.

University B.A. program, I feel confident in my writing abilities, but do not feel as comfortable

working or researching in the public history field.

By analyzing three papers, this essay will show that while Shippensburg University’s

history program provides adequate instruction on writing historically analytical papers under

deadlines, and provides research opportunities on a variety of subjects, the research primarily

centers on secondary sources, rather than teaches students how to use archives, and find primary

sources. The majority of my historical writings included book reviews where I did not have to

find outside primary and secondary sources. I did not have to find primary sources for any

history paper, until my Theory and Practice paper with Dr. Shaffer in my junior year. This did

not provide me with much experience into archival work, because I could not go to the archives

to conduct research. I did not receive any experience of going to the archives, and looking

through their collections until my senior capstone course. Overall, my experience at

Shippensburg has proved rewarding, and I plan to rely on the associations that I have made

through my internship at the Lewes Historical Society, and the numerous people that I have met

at Shippensburg University, as I pursue future endeavors.

“joining together to fight society’s...

Documents