Dorothy Pitman Hughes passes away at 84
Dorothy Pitman Hughes, a pioneering Black feminist and civil rights activist, has died at age 84. The Associated Press reports that Hughes, who is also remembered as a tireless child welfare advocate and lifelong community activist, died on Dec. 1 in Tampa, Florida, at the home of her daughter and son-in-law.
Old age is what Delethia Ridley Malmsten’s daughter says killed the beloved activist according to Hughes.
The Sconiers Funeral Home in Columbus, Georgia stated in an obituary that Hughes “passed away peacefully at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Delethia and Jonas Malmsten.”
In 1938, Hughes was born in Lumpkin, Georgia. At the age of 19, she moved to New York and began working several jobs, including house cleaner and nightclub singer. According to her obituary, Hughes organized a multiracial cooperative daycare center in the late 1960s.
Gloria Steinem, Hughes’ longtime friend, was inspired by the daycare center and wrote a profile of it for New York Magazine, as CNN reports. Steinem and Hughes are known for their photo with raised fists.
“The Associated Press reports that Steinem told them that her friend, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, ran a pioneering childcare center on the west side of Manhattan.” ”
We met in the seventies when I wrote about that childcare center, and we became speaking partners and lifetime friends. “She will be missed, but as long as we keep telling her story, she will continue to inspire us all.”
Steinem and Hughes continued to work together through the years, visiting college campuses, community centers and other venues to speak on gender and race issues.
The pair also formed the Women’s Action Alliance, a network of feminist activists who were pushing for equality on a national level.
Hughes moved to Harlem in the 1980s and opened Harlem Office Supply, an office supply business. A Black woman ran a rare stationery store at the time. When a Staples opened nearby, Hughes was forced to sell the store.
Malmsten, Patrice Quinn, and Angela Hughes are the daughters of the 84-year-old.
