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Florence Howe, ‘Mother of Women’s Studies,’ Dies at 91

Her activist spirit was also ignited as a Hunter undergraduate. She formed an interracial and interfaith sorority with friends and was elected student body president. She studied English with the intention of teaching in the public school system, but was encouraged by a professor and Hunter’s president to pursue a master’s degree, which she earned at Smith College. In 1951 she went on to study for a doctorate in English at the University of Wisconsin.