In Pursuit of Equity: The Ongoing Struggle for the Equal Rights AmendmentMain MenuIntroductionERA TimelineBeginnings of the ERABreaking Barriers with The ERABacklash To The Equal Rights AmendmentThe Equal Rights Amendment In The Present DayThe Women of the ERAEinav Rabinovitch-Fox2e56e3d6b4b5f137a53bf7f9d80912f3b70a7958Kintan Silvany27acd809d8b92f60fa0c22b1d284608814bc6757Abner Calderonb03ac0a842793a715372659d5c676baf1603fc74Aly Memberg633115900d9e4fdd285e59fb0d1f7aebe9630776By Abner Calderon, Aly Memberg, Kintan Silvany and Einav Rabinovitch-Fox
12023-03-21T19:53:58+00:00Crystal Eastman5Biography for Crystal Eastmanplain2023-05-02T14:05:35+00:00 Crystal Eastman was an important early supporter of the ERA, joining Alice Paul as a founding member of both the NWP and its predecessor, the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. Eastman worked as a lawyer and a journalist, and outside of her efforts with the ERA, she was an ardent feminist and socialist.
Eastman’s career began with an investigation into workplace safety conditions, an endeavor that resulted in the first workers’ compensation law in the US, based on legislation that she drafted herself. In 1915 Eastman helped found the Women’s Peace Party, a left-wing antiwar group that combined the demand for an end to the war in Europe with the demand to expand suffrage to women. She also organized the founding of the National Civil Liberties Bureau, which would become the ACLU in 1920.
As an intelligent and eloquent writer, Eastman was a frequent contributor to the NWP’s Equal Rights magazine, amongst other left-wing and feminist publications. With the onset of the first Red Scare around the end of WW1, her open espousal of socialist beliefs left her blacklisted and unable to find well-paying work. Tragically, this disavowal of Eastman has severely affected the memory of her legacy, as her important role in events such as the founding of the ACLU has been all but erased with time.
