WCC at 50

Welcome to the “WCC at 50” page! In this section of the website, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Women’s Classical Caucus (WCC) by featuring our members, their work, and their experiences in the WCC and in Classics.

This page is an ongoing, oral history project, which we will continue to update over time with new features, interviews, and historic materials.

WCC: A Community of Care

The WCC has worked persistently throughout its fifty years to promote equity in the field of Classics through direct advocacy and ongoing support of its individual members. We sent a call out to our members to tell us about the impact of the WCC for them and the field of Classics. Watch the video below to hear their reflections, and click here to read more about our community.

WCC Members Video Montage

WCC Founders

During the 1972 Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association in Philadelphia, six early career faculty and graduate students formed The Women’s Classical Caucus (WCC). Click below to listen to interviews and read memories from the WCC founders, as they speak about the origins of the WCC, important milestones for the organization, and the continued urgency of its work for the future.

Leona Ascher, Fordham University (Ph. D.), The New School

Sarah B. Pomeroy - Additional Interview

Judith P. Hallett - Additional Interviews and Links

Dorothea Schmidt Wender

Marilyn Arthur Katz

John P. Sullivan

What the WCC Means to Us

Since its founding, the WCC has grown and promoted its social justice mission through the actions and vision of several key leaders, members, and allies. Click below to watch the short video interviews (~30 min. each) and read the stories of some of these members, as they reflect on what the WCC has meant to them through the years.

Ronnie Ancona

Helene Foley

Shelley Haley - Additional Interviews part 1 and part 2

Amy Richlin - Interview Responses

Ruby Blondell

Alison Futrell

Sheila (Bridget) Murnaghan

Marilyn Skinner

Nancy Felson

Barbara Gold - Additional Interview

Nancy Rabinowitz

Froma Zeitlin

Additional Information and Reflections

In this section, we include reflections on gender in the field and links to additional information about WCC and its sister organizations.

Organizations

Articles

Starting out in the 1960s, working class and female by Averil Cameron
A History of the Women’s Network of the Classical Association of Canada by Lisa Trenton

In Fond Memory of…

Sharon James

In Memory of Sharon James

Anyone whose life was touched by Sharon James is encouraged to send a remembrance, reflection, or anecdote to T. H. M. Gellar-Goad at thmgg@wfu.edu to be published in an In Memoriam page on the website of the NEH Institute on Roman comedy.

Janet Martin

Princeton Classics Mourns the Loss of Janet Martin

Janet Martin, medieval Latinist and ‘gracious, generous mentor,’ dies at 84

About the “WCC at 50” Project

The “WCC at 50” Project is an initiative started by the 2021 Steering Committee for the WCC’s 50th anniversary year. As we reached out to members past and present and listened to their stories, we decided to dedicate a permanent section of our website to honor the WCC’s rich history. This page represents a snapshot of the materials we were able to gather, and we plan to update this page throughout the 50th celebration year as time and resources allow. Click here to read about the “WCC at 50” project. If you would like to contribute material for this page (or volunteer your time to add to it!), please click here.

About the Video Editor
Lee Kaeden is a video editor based in Los Angeles, CA. He is currently enrolled as a student at California State University at Northridge. If you are interested in contacting Lee for his editing services, click here.

“WCC at 50” Project Team