Florence Rae Kennedy (1916 - 2000)

Born 11 Feb 1916 in Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Died 21 Dec 2000 at age 84 in New York, New York, United States

Biography

Florynce Rae Kennedy was an American lawyer, radical feminist, civil rights advocate, lecturer and activist.

Florynce was born in 1916, the daughter of Zella and Wiley Kennedy. Their family lived in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri.

After the death of her mother, she joined her sister in New York city. She was admitted to Columbia University and graduated in 1946. After being denied admittance to Columbia law school, she threatened to sue the school. She was admitted and graduated in 1951.

Along with her work as a lawyer, she was an feminist and anti-racism activist. She protested the media's representation of Black people and attended all three Black Power conferences. She opposed the Miss America pageant, toured with Gloria Steinman and founded the Feminist Party. She was also a supporter of abortion rights and a strong opponent of military and interventionist wars, especially the Vietnam War.

She passed away in 2000.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Florynce Kennedy
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K749-785 : accessed 30 July 2018), Florence Kennedy in household of Wiley C Kennedy, Ward 4, Kansas City, Kaw Township, Jackson, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 116-90B, sheet 2B, line 60, family 49, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2168.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHVY-J5S : accessed 30 July 2018), Florence R Kennedy in household of Wiley C Kennedy, Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 169, sheet 17A, line 36, family 334, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1199; FHL microfilm 2,340,934.