|
|
| |
|
 | | Michal Brody, Ph.D. | | | Inducted 2008 | | | Photo: MUCUY KAK MOÓ MARÍN | | Michal Brody, Ph.D., 60, activist and author, for her work as a founding member of the groundbreaking Chicago Gay Liberation group in 1969, a founding member of Chicago Lesbian Liberation in 1970, and in 1985 writing “Are We There Yet?,” a landmark book of Chicago lesbian history. | |
|
| Native Chicagoan Michal Brody began
her activism during the year of the Stonewall rebellion (1969) at the age of
21 as a founding member of the groundbreaking
Hyde Park–based Chicago Gay Liberation. In
1970 she became one of the founders of Chicago
Lesbian Liberation. She also joined the
collective of the early Chicago lesbian
newspaper Lavender Woman, writing columns
and articles as well as doing production work.
Brody documented her experiences and
reflections about the early days
of CGL and CLL and her years at the newspaper in her landmark book, Are We
There Yet? A Continuing History of Lavender Woman: A Chicago Lesbian
Newspaper, 1971–1976. | |
| Brody also contributed to the early years of women’s music in Chicago. In
October 1972, the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union produced a historic
concert featuring the first openly lesbian music group in the world, Family of
Woman—which also formed in Chicago—and Brody was their opening act. She
toured the Midwest with the group and wrote a number of songs that galvanized
lesbians wherever they performed. One of Brody’s songs, “Old Woman Song,” is
featured on the High Risk collection of lesbian feminist performers. | |
| Brody moved to Iowa in 1973, continuing to work long-distance on the
production of Lavender Woman, maintaining her Chicago ties while extending
her media activism. From 1977 to 1985 Brody was a member of Iowa City
Women’s Press, the all-woman press responsible for printing periodicals that
were vital instruments of lesbian community-building, including Lesbian
Connection, Sinister Wisdom, and Common Lives, Lesbian Lives. | |
| Are We There Yet? was published in 1984 (reprinted in 1991). In 1985, Brody
moved back to Chicago and again immersed herself in Chicago lesbian
community activism. She hosted a number of presentations at Mountain Moving
Coffeehouse, including several oral herstory events, and in 1993 co-founded the
Institute of Lesbian Studies. | |
| “Even when we were doing the newspaper,” Brody recalls, “we were aware that
we were the change we were reporting.”Are We There Yet? was fueled by Brody’s
desire to keep that activism moving forward, by stimulating memory, by
reconnecting lesbians, and “by putting a record of dyke experiences out into the
world.” | |
| Brody, who has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas, now teaches Mayan
linguistics at the Universidad de Oriente in Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico. | |
| This biography is as of the induction date. It has not been updated. |
| Your feedback is important to us. Please feel free to Contact Us with any correction, suggestions, or feedback. By using this link it will identify the specific item on which you are providing feedback. |
|
|
| |
 |
|
© 1999-2013 Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame |
|
3712 North Broadway, Suite 637, Chicago,
Illinois 60613-4235 USA |
|
773-281-5095 |
|
Site Last Updated 04/13/2013 •
Contact
Webmaster |
|
|
|
|
