Date Span: | 1956-1997 |
Creator: | Laughlin, Ruth (1954-1986) |
Extent: | 3.35 linear feet. |
Collection Number: | IWA0185 |
Repository: | Iowa Women's Archives |
Summary: | Social activist and writer. |
Access: The papers are open for research.
Use: Copyright held by the donors has been transferred to the University of Iowa.
Acquisition: The papers (donor no. 264) were donated by Lois and Don Laughlin in 1999.
Preferred Citation: Ruth Laughlin papers, Iowa Women's Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City.
Repository: | Iowa Women's Archives |
Address: | 100 Main Library University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City, IA 52242 |
Phone: | 319-335-5068 |
Curator: | Kären Mason |
Email: | lib-women@uiowa.edu |
Website: | http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa |
Ruth Laughlin, an advocate for social justice, was born on July 25, 1954, in Iowa City, Iowa. Laughlin attended public elementary schools and attended high school at the Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, Iowa, from which she graduated in 1972. As a young adult, Laughlin worked as an apple-picker with the Young Friends of North America and was a member of Amnesty International. Laughlin moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1978. In the summer of 1983 Laughlin married Ben Kazina, an African immigrant. Kazina returned to Africa and was killed in a café bombing approximately three years after their marriage.
Laughlin completed her undergraduate education in 1984 by earning a B.A. summa cum laude in urban studies from Temple University. While in Philadelphia, Laughlin also devoted her time and intellect to many advocacy projects: she lived in cooperative housing sponsored by the Movement for a New Society (MNS), contributed to and helped produce the COMMUNITY activist newsletter, and was employed by the Quaker publication Friends Journal. Laughlin also participated in organizations such as the Coalition on the Utility Crisis and the Workers' Rights Law Project. Laughlin crafted a diverse advocacy that included resistance to class-, gender-, and race-based oppressions and participation in anti-nuclear organizations and the peace movement. Ruth Laughlin was raped and murdered in her apartment in Philadelphia on May 29, 1986.
Browse by Series:
Series 1: PERSONAL DOCUMENTS
Series 2: EDUCATION
Series 3: RELIGION
Series 4: PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE
Series 5: COMMUNITY
Series 6: FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
Series 7: EMPLOYMENT
Series 8: DIARIES
Series 9: DEATH
Series 10: TAFATAONA P. MAHOSO
Series 11: POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Series 12: POETRY
Series 13: PHOTOGRAPHS
This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.