Born July 23, 1917
New York, New York
Died August 2, 1984
Sugarloaf Key, Florida

Peace and civil rights activist, author, and poet Barbara Deming.

For more than two decades Barbara Deming was a leader in movements promoting peace, civil rights, women’s rights, and lesbian and gay rights. A self-described “radical pacifist lesbian feminist,” she challenged others to be true to nonviolence and personal liberties. She also pushed for the acceptance of lesbians within movements for social change and in society at large. In her later years Deming came to view her advocacy for disadvantaged groups as an outgrowth of her own oppression as a lesbian.

Quaker and bohemian influences during youth

Deming was born into a wealthy family in New York City on July 23, 1917. She was the second of four children and the only daughter of Katherine Burritt, a singer, and Harold Deming, a noted...