Cynthia Rich (1933- ) and Barbara Macdonald (1913-2000) were writers, activists in lesbian feminist politics, and partners for 26 years. A graduate of Radcliffe College (A.B. 1956, A.M. 1958), Rich was married to Roy Glauber, a member of the physics department at Harvard; they had two children. Rich taught writing at Harvard for ten years beginning in the late 1960s, her courses focussing on sexism, homophobia, and racism. She was active in the peace and social justice movements as president of Voice of Women--New England, and wrote regularly for feminist publications such as Ms., Equal Times, and Sojourner.

Separated from her husband in 1971, Rich met Barbara Macdonald, a retired social worker, at the Goddard Cambridge Graduate School. They co-authored Look Me in the Eye: Old Women, Aging and Ageism in 1983, a groundbreaking examination of ageism from a feminist perspective, which later appeared in two expanded editions (1991, 2001). Moving west in the 1980s, Rich and Macdonald helped organize protests of the Miss California pageants, and worked to end apartheid in South Africa, and in support of the United Farm Workers' 1989 grape boycott. In 1987 they served on the planning committee of the First West Coast Conference of Old Lesbians and were active in the subsequent Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, a Houston-based organization. An internationally recognized speaker, Macdonald lectured widely on ageism and feminism, including at the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women. She died June 15, 2000, of Alzheimer's disease. Rich was a member of Desert Waves, an affinity group protesting weapons testing in Nevada; the Women's Alliance, a group dedicated to giving a woman's perspective to the debate surrounding the Gulf war; and the Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, among others.

From the description of Papers of Cynthia Rich and Barbara Macdonald, 1893-2004 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122506522