Barbara Deming
Encyclopedia
Barbara Deming was an American feminist and advocate of nonviolent
social change.
. She attended a Friends (Quaker) school up through her high school years.
Deming directed plays, taught dramatic literature and wrote and published fiction and non-fiction works. On a trip to India
, she began reading Gandhi, and became committed to a non-violent struggle, with her main cause being Women's Rights. She later became a journalist, and was active in many demonstrations and marches over issues of peace and civil rights
. She was a member of a group that went to Hanoi
during the Vietnam War
, and was jailed many times for non-violent protest.
. She was the romantic partner of writer and artist Mary Meigs
from 1954 to 1972. Their relationship eventually floundered, partially due to Meigs's timid attitude, and Deming's unrelenting political activism.
During the time that they were together, Meigs and Deming moved to Wellfleet, Massachusetts
, where she befriended the writer and critic Edmund Wilson
and his circle of friends. Among them was the Québécois author Marie-Claire Blais
, with whom Meigs became romantically involved. Meigs, Blais, and Deming lived together for six years.
In 1976, Deming moved to Florida with her partner, artist Jane Verlaine. Verlaine painted, did figure drawings and illustrated several books written by Deming. Verlaine was a tireless advocate for abused women.
It is often said that she created a body of non-violent theory, based on action and personal experience, that centered on the potential of non-violent struggle in its application to the women's movement.
In 1968, Deming signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
social change.
Early life
Barbara Deming was born in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. She attended a Friends (Quaker) school up through her high school years.
Deming directed plays, taught dramatic literature and wrote and published fiction and non-fiction works. On a trip to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, she began reading Gandhi, and became committed to a non-violent struggle, with her main cause being Women's Rights. She later became a journalist, and was active in many demonstrations and marches over issues of peace and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
. She was a member of a group that went to Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, and was jailed many times for non-violent protest.
Relationships
At sixteen, she had fallen in love with a woman her mother's age, and thereafter she was openly lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
. She was the romantic partner of writer and artist Mary Meigs
Mary Meigs
Mary Meigs was an American-born painter and writer.-Early life:Meigs was born in Philadelphia and raised in Washington, DC. She studied at Bryn Mawr College, and subsequently taught English literature and creative writing at that school...
from 1954 to 1972. Their relationship eventually floundered, partially due to Meigs's timid attitude, and Deming's unrelenting political activism.
During the time that they were together, Meigs and Deming moved to Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Wellfleet is a New England town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the town had a population of 2,749 at the 2000 census, which swells nearly sixfold during the summer...
, where she befriended the writer and critic Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
and his circle of friends. Among them was the Québécois author Marie-Claire Blais
Marie-Claire Blais
Marie-Claire Blais, is a Canadian author and playwright.- Life :Born in Quebec City, Quebec, she was educated at a convent school and at Université Laval. It was at Laval that she met Jeanne Lapointe and Father Georges Lévesque, who encouraged her to write and, in 1959, to publish her first...
, with whom Meigs became romantically involved. Meigs, Blais, and Deming lived together for six years.
In 1976, Deming moved to Florida with her partner, artist Jane Verlaine. Verlaine painted, did figure drawings and illustrated several books written by Deming. Verlaine was a tireless advocate for abused women.
Life's Work
Deming openly believed that it was often those whom we loved that oppressed us, and that it was necessary to re-invent non-violent struggle every day.It is often said that she created a body of non-violent theory, based on action and personal experience, that centered on the potential of non-violent struggle in its application to the women's movement.
- Deming, Barbara: Prison Notes. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1966.
- Deming, Barbara: On Revolution and Equilibrium. Liberation, February 1968. From the collection: ed. Staughton Lynd and Alice Lynd. Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History. Revised Edition. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1995.
- Deming, Barbara: Running Away from Myself: A Dream Portrait of America Drawn from the Movies of the Forties. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1969.
- Deming, Barbara; Berrigan, Daniel; Forest, James; Kunstler, William; Lynd, Staughton; Shaull, Richard; Statements of the Catonsville 9 and Milwaukee 14 Delivered Into Resistance The Advocate Press: 1969.
- Deming, Barbara: Revolution and Equilibrium. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1971.
- Deming, Barbara: Wash Us and Comb Us. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1972.
- Deming, Barbara: We Cannot Live Without Our Lives. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1974.
- Deming, Barbara: A Humming Under My Feet. London: Women's Press, 1974.
- Deming, Barbara: Remembering Who We Are. Tallahassee, FL: The Naiad Press, 1981.
- Deming, Barbara; Meyerding, Jane (Editor): We Are All Part of One Another a Barbara Deming Reader . Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1984.
- Deming, Barbara; McDaniel, Judith; Biren, Joan E.; Vanderlinde, Sky (Editor): Prisons That Could Not Hold . University of Georgia Press, 1995.
- Deming, Barbara; McDaniel, Judith (Editor) I Change, I Change: Poems. New Victoria Publishers, 1996.
In 1968, Deming signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
External links
- Barbara Deming: An Activist Life
- Ira Chernus, American Nonviolence: The History of an Idea
- Barbara Deming Papers. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
- A Random Chapter in the History of Nonviolence, by Michael L. Westmoreland-White