Florence Howe was an American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian. She was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 17, 1929. She earned a BA from Hunter College in English (1950), and a MA in English from Smith College (1951). She attended the University of Wisconsin (1954), continuing her graduate studies in art history and literature. Howe was awarded several honorary doctorates in humane letters from New England College (1977) and Skidmore College (1979). She also rec'd an honorary doctorate from DePauw University (1987).
Her life and work were focused on feminism and social justice. She founded Feminist Press in 1970. In 1973, she became the president of the Modern Language Association. She was a college professor and taught women's studies at Goucher College. In 1971, she became professor of Humanities at SUNY.
She wrote or edited more than a dozen books and more than 120 essays. Her essays were published in the Harvard Educational Review, the Nation, the New York Review of Books, PMLA, the Women's Review of Books, and a variety of anthologies. Her books included a memoir, A Life in Motion (2011), a collection of essays, Myths on Coeducation (1984).
Florence Howe died on September 12, 2020 in New York City, at the age of 91.
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