Rita Mae Brown (center) with assistant professor of English Diane Lunde (right) and Vice President of College Advancement Carol A. Tschop at Wilson College's graduation in 1992.

Visited Wilson in 1992 to give the Commencement Speech

Prolific queer author and activist Rita Mae Brown has captivated readers with her charm and wit since the early 1970s. She has won several awards for her achievements and has long been a pioneer in supporting the inclusion of lesbian women in the feminist movement. 

A native Pennsylvanian, Brown was born in Hanover in 1944. Her mother was a teenager and unmarried, leading to Brown’s adoption by a relative. Years later, her family moved to Florida, where she attended the University of Florida at Gainesville, until she was expelled for participating in the Civil Rights Movement. 

After hitchhiking to New York City, she attended New York University and received her Bachelor’s degree in English and Classics. This degree was followed by her Ph.D. in literature and her doctorate in political science. 

Shortly after her turbulent college years, Brown published her first, and most famous, novel, Rubyfruit Jungle. This book has been hailed as one of the first American novels to explicitly and realistically portray lesbianism. 

As a staunch feminist and member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Brown is a champion of human rights. Beginning in the 60s, she has been part of the anti-war movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the feminist movement, and the Gay Liberation Movement. While she has been instrumental in founding and participating in many feminist groups, Brown often clashed with leadership in these spaces, because of the lack of inclusion and support for lesbians in the women’s rights community. She has also been an active voice in American politics.

Awards Brown has won include an Emmy nomination for her writing, a co-win for the Writers Guild of America Award, the New York Public Library’s Literary Lion Award, the Pioneer Award for lifetime achievement, and a nomination for an Audie Award. She was also bestowed an honorary doctorate by Wilson College in 1992, when she gave her Commencement Speech. 

Her address to the graduating class did not lack her signature political spark and empowerment. The U.S.’s leaders, she said, were “walking backward into the future,” and told the students to instead “turn around and leap into the future.” 

She condemned the political climate of the time that denied citizen’s personal choice and that encouraged division and violence. Brown challenged the audience to shape a future in which humankind learns that “we are far more alike than different.”

Sources: 

The Wilson College Magazine Summer 1992

https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/bios/Brown__Rita_Mae