Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism
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Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK
2014
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1386244574 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-case13862445742021-08-03T06:20:51Z Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism Hess, Emily S. American History In 1970, Maggie Kuhn, an older white middle-class woman and frustrated victim of mandatory retirement, formed an anti-ageist organization called the Gray Panthers. From challenging mandatory retirement to critiquing ageist media depictions of older Americans, the Gray Panthers fought to recreate the image, expectations and roles of older white middle-class retirees in American society. Inspired by social movements of the 1960s, emboldened by their own lengthy activist backgrounds, and frustrated by the absence of an anti-ageist movement, these Gray Panther activists remained politically and socially active by fighting against ageism in their retirement years. The Gray Panthers politicization and activism in the 1970s and 1980s is the subject of this dissertation. Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism examines how age is a powerful factor in shaping older Americans daily lives as well as their activism. It provides insights into how Americans experienced the aging process, adapted to their changing positions within family, work, and community, and highlights how older white middle-class Americans responded to societal expectations about age-related roles and behaviors. Studying the politicization of these older Americans provides a more nuanced, generational understanding of the impact of social conditions on people’s lives and politicization. It further reveals how historical scholarship on social struggles has had its own age-based framework—which has resulted in a narrative that privileges youth as the singular historical agents of the era. This dissertation restores older Americans visibility, raises different questions than conventional narratives have focused on, and examines their significance within a social movement context. 2014-02-21 English text Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1386244574 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1386244574 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
American History |
| spellingShingle |
American History Hess, Emily S. Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism |
| author |
Hess, Emily S. |
| author_facet |
Hess, Emily S. |
| author_sort |
Hess, Emily S. |
| title |
Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism |
| title_short |
Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism |
| title_full |
Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism |
| title_fullStr |
Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Wrinkled Radicals: Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers, and the Battle Against Ageism |
| title_sort |
wrinkled radicals: maggie kuhn, the gray panthers, and the battle against ageism |
| publisher |
Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1386244574 |
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