Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality: 1920–2020

Historian Griffith (In Her Own Right) provides an informative survey of women’s gains and setbacks since the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Focusing on the “interwoven” struggles for equal rights and civil rights, Griffith’s diverse roster of profile subjects includes antilynching crusader Ida B. Wells; legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term intersectionality; early 20th-century Native American activist Zitkala-Ša; and Dolores Huerta, a schoolteacher of Mexican descent who turned to labor union activism in the 1960s. Griffith also traces the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment from its launch in the 1920s to its defeat 50 years later by Republican operative Phyllis Schlafly, and the quest for reproductive rights, which flourished from the 1920s through the 1970s before experiencing a strong backlash after the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Scattered throughout are brisk portraits of pioneers including Black astronaut Mae Jemison, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and Vice President Kamala Harris. Noting that women’s achievements have been both hard-won and fragile, Griffith laments how racial, class, and political divisions have slowed the path to equality, but strikes an appealing note of optimism in the book’s final pages. This is an impassioned and inspiring introduction to how far the women’s movement has come, and where it still needs to go. Illus. (Aug.)