Robin Morgan, former child star turned feminist icon, dies at 85

Robin Morgan, who rose to fame as a child performer in the 1940s and 50s before becoming one of the defining voices of second-wave feminism, has died at 85. Her death was confirmed Saturday by the Women's Media Center, an organization she co-founded in 2005 with Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem, who died this past Wednesday. The statement gave no details on the location, date or cause of death.

Women's Media Center president Julie Burton described Morgan as one of the architects of the contemporary women's movement, praising her writing and global leadership on justice and equality.

A defining figure of second-wave feminism

During the 1960s and 70s, Morgan was involved in several landmark moments of the movement. In 1968 she helped organize the protest against the Miss America pageant, where activists threw bras into a "freedom trash can," an act later mythologized as bra-burning. In 1970 she edited the anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful, now regarded as a foundational text of modern feminism.

She is widely credited with coining the term "herstory" and popularizing the raised-fist female symbol as a movement icon. Her poems, including Monster and Arraignment, were widely quoted at feminist rallies. In 1970 she was arrested after occupying the offices of publisher Grove Press in support of a union drive by its employees.

Personal life and legacy

Morgan was married for more than two decades to poet Kenneth Pitchford, with whom she had a son, musician Blake Morgan. She described the marriage as a "two-member commune." Her 2001 memoir, Saturday's Child, recounted her life with humor.

She authored more than 20 books, including later volumes in the Sisterhood series, and served for years as editor-in-chief of Ms magazine. In 1984 she co-founded the Sisterhood Is Global Institute, an early feminist think tank. In recent years she hosted a radio show despite a Parkinson's diagnosis, which inspired poems and a 2015 TEDWomen talk.

Born in 1941 in Florida, Morgan was a popular child actor before turning to activism; her memoir also described mistreatment she faced in the entertainment industry as a child, which she later described as shaping her first act of resistance.