American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian, Florence Howe (born 1929) was a nationally recognized leader of the contemporary feminist movement.

Florence Howe was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 17, 1929, to Samuel and Frances Stilly Rosenfeld. Her father, a taxi driver, and mother, a bookkeeper, instilled a love of learning in Florence. Frances Rosenfeld encouraged her daughter to pursue a teaching career.

In 1943 Howe was one of the five young women from Brooklyn, and the only one of non-middle-class background, to win a city-wide exam to attend exclusive Hunter College High School. In 1946, at age 16, Howe entered Hunter College. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1949. The literature faculty, dean of students, and college president encouraged Howe to take graduate courses in literature and become a college professor. After receiving a BA in English in 1950, Howe attended Smith College and earned a MA in English in 1951. She...