KV NOW History
Previously named Charleston Area NOW, Kanawha Valley NOW was convened in 1974 by Beth Hamrick and Natalie Goldberg, a year after WV NOW was formed. We started educating the public on sexism, then moved to advocacy and finally running for office ourselves.
We organized rallies for the ERA and reproductive rights, uncovered sexist steering in employment agencies and protested dry cleaners’ price discrimination and sex segregated employment ads in the newspaper, which were dropped. We funded the first sexual assault counselor, Carolyn Tillach, and started a shelter for battered women after first creating safe houses. This project was initiated by Sheri O’Dell.
Bonnie Brown created a cookbook of recipes by men called Of Mousse and Men and founded the Women’s Repertory Theatre. Mary Lee Daugherty published the Women’s Yellow Pages. We started Women’s Lobby Day at the legislature, lobbied to establish the Women’s Commission and co-founded the Women’s Health Center, occupying it overnight when there were threats.
The “Charleston Three” – Jane Broadwater, Sandy Fisher, and Bettijane Burger, officers at the time – fought off a libel suit by WCHS radio after asking advertisers to pull funding over an employee sex discrimination problem. We countersued on First Amendment rights and held firm until both sides agreed to drop the case. This suit received national attention. Receiving the most national attention was protesting the firing of secretary Tess Dineen by state Supreme Court Justice Richard Neely after she refused to continue babysitting. He stepped down from being Chief Justice.
We started the annual Susan B. Anthony award which the state and other chapters picked up on. We helped start the shelter for homeless women, called Sojourners.
Bonnie Brown, Pat White and Charlotte Pritt were among early members in the Statehouse. Sheri O’Dell became National action vice-president. Margaret Workman became the first woman elected to statewide office as a justice to the state Supreme Court.
We marched in the Sternwheel Regatta parade twice – to honor the 70th anniversary of suffrage and Rosie the Riveters on the 50th anniversary
of WW II. Member Alicia McCormick, YWCA shelter director, was murdered by a work release prisoner. The chapter stopped meeting in 1999.
of WW II. Member Alicia McCormick, YWCA shelter director, was murdered by a work release prisoner. The chapter stopped meeting in 1999.
Bettijane Burger reconvened the newly named Kanawha Valley NOW in 2017. Members became clinic escorts. We had a reception for candidates and member Amy Booth Goodwin who became Charleston’s first female mayor. We had a voters’ rights/impeach President Trump rally at the Capitol. We donned Handmaid’s Tale costumes to protest various issues at Congressional offices. Kayla Young was elected to the legislature. Renate Pore received a grant to celebrate the centennial of women’s vote promoted through a PowerPoint, a play and other activities. She is now heading up the effort to place a suffragist statue at the Capitol. Katonya Hart was the first member elected to the National Board. She and Michele Baranaskas received a NOW Foundation grant to promote voter registration, which included a billboard, brochures, tabling and meetings.