50 Years of Ms. at the Cambridge Public Library

Harvard Book Store celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Ms. Magazine with a discussion of the book 50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution. The event will feature a special panel of Ms. contributors including, Carrie Baker and Aziza Ahmed, advocates Diane Rosenfeld and Naitasia Hensey, and actor and activist Ashley Judd.

Ticketing

Please Note: Tickets to this event are sold out. There is no waitlist for this event. People interested in waiting in a stand-by line at the door for this sold-out event are welcome to. If any seats are still open five minutes before the event begins, we will turn them over to those in the stand-by line on a first-come, first-served basis. Of course we can’t guarantee that those in the stand-by line will get in, but we are often able to let in some of those patiently waiting. 

About 50 Years of Ms.

For the past five decades Ms. has been the nation’s most influential source of feminist ideas, and it remains at the forefront of feminism today, affecting thought and culture with a younger-than-ever readership (ages 16-20!).

Ms. was the first U.S. magazine to:

• feature prominent American women demanding the repeal of laws that criminalized abortion
• explain and advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment
• rate presidential candidates on women’s issues
• feature domestic violence and sexual harassment on its cover, long before either was widely understood or acknowledged
• commission and publish a national study on date rape

Here is the best reporting, fiction, and advertising, decade by decade, as well as the best photographs and features that reveal and reflect the changes set in motion by Ms., along with the iconic covers that galvanized readers.

Here are essays, profiles, conversations with and features by: Alice Walker, Cynthia Enloe, Pauli Murray, Nancy Pelosi, bell hooks, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Brittney Cooper, and Joy Harjo, as well as fiction and poetry by Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Adrienne Rich, Rita Dove, and Sharon Olds, and many others.

Praise for Ms.

“Gloria Steinem and Ms. magazine changed the course of history for modern women, period. Who can say what direction things would have gone in without that movement, but there's no question our eyes were opened and have remained so. We just have to keep our eyes open—as well as our ears and hearts. It's constantly evolving, that's why it's called a movement. Always looking forward, baby.” —Whoopi Goldberg

“Ms. magazine was crucial in the creation of the women’s movement in the United States and the world—it inspired women to achieve our potential and take our place in society as feminist leaders. Ms. is just as important in today’s world, as feminist leadership is needed to create a just international society.” —Dolores Huerta, co-founder, United Farm Workers

“I can’t imagine our lives without Ms. magazine, that most radical, heart-wise, irreverent, outrageous and odd magazine!  It is the only periodical that connects with all of women's lives, including those parts that secretly delight and scare us. Jai Maaa! (Victory to the mother!)” —Alice Walker

Mask Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.