Ninety four year old Flora M. Crater died February 1st. Crater led a group of women known as Crater's Raiders to lobby for the ERA during the 1970s and 1980s, and still held out hope until the day she died that their fight would one day, finally, be won. She didn't see it as symbolic. She saw it as entirely possible.
In fact, Crater still published a newsletter called The Woman Activist at 91. Throughout her career, she was a champion for school integration and the advancement of women in general. In 1999, she received a Human Rights Award from the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission. She was also the first president of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the National Organization for Women and the first coordinator of the Virginia Women's Political Caucus.
The ERA, however, was her real baby. Just a few years ago she told her alma mater:
"We still need three more states. We have an active campaign going on right now in Florida."
So today we thank the late lady for reminding us that sometimes feminist fights are not won quickly, sometimes not even won at all in one's own lifetime, but that they are no less important. What's your ERA?
Check out her full obit in the Washington Post. Thanks to the Women's Media Center for the heads up.
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Psst, you misspelled her name twice in the first line. :)
Makes me a little misty, actually.