Bettina aptheker
- Born September 13, 1944 in North Carolina (aged 64)
- Her parents were both political activists and members of the Communist Party USA
- During the 60s and 70s Bettina was active in antiwar and civil rights movements, she also became a professor, author and feminist.
- In the Fall of 1964 she was one of the leaders in the Berkley Free Speech Movement in the University of California (Berkley)
- June of 1964 she helped form the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs, a youth organized Communist Party.
- In 1968 At the young age of 24 she worked her way up to being one of the leading members of the National Committee of the CPUSA. But after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavakia the party was divided and Bettina voted in the 5-1 minority not supporting the invasion so she opposed her father and the other intellectual leaders of the CPUSA.
- She later worked in the defense of fellow communist party member of Angela Davis involved in George Jackson's attempt to escape prison.
- She became a professor at San Jose State University and taught African American and women's studies. Since 1980 she has taught in the feminist studies department at the University of Santa Cruz California.
Primary source
The primary source that I used was a video of Bettina's last lecture for a class she taught on feminism on 2008 December 4th. She talks about how important it is to motivate and educate the youth of today and how it's everybody's responsibility. She also brings about the 1500 student sit in protest for Freedom of Speech at the Berkley university in 1964 and how the faculty voted in favor of the students demands. From that she learned that it was possible to make a changed and they "formed a sense of community which was a bond that was very powerful and extremely motivating. She brings up how she's often asked about the 60s and how everyone has the impression that there were thousands of students protesting everywhere when realistically every movement started with only a handful of participants, like the Berkley Free speech movement and that only after demonstrating their beliefs and revealing the issues something caught on with the students.
Evaluation
Bettina Aptheker was a strong advocate in all of her beliefs of civil rights, anti communism , feminism , antiwar and probably much more. She's spoken at plenty events and reached thousands and has even written books including "Intimate Politics". She believes that the key in social change is to "believe in people, believe in their ability and believe in your ability to organize." She also says in her speech "we were a small group of people and we did outrageous things, like ceasing a police car!." which demonstrates that she'd go to any length to get her point across and stand up for her beliefs All she wanted to do is spread education and insight on important matters and she's still doing it till this day , she's alright in my book!