Dorothy Pitman Hughes

Dorothy Pitman Hughes (born Dorothy Jean Ridley; October 2, 1938 – December 1, 2022) was an American feminist, child welfare advocate, activist, public speaker, author, and small business owner. Pitman Hughes co-founded the Women's Action Alliance. Her activism and friendship with Gloria Steinem was a noted example of racial balance in the nascent feminist movement.

Family and early life Dorothy Jean Ridley was born on October 2, 1938, in Lumpkin, Georgia, to Lessie W. Ridley and Melton Lee Ridley.

Early career Ridley moved from Georgia to New York City in 1957, when she was nineteen. Ridley married Bill Pitman and they had a child before divorcing. The two of them traveled around the country for two years, sharing the stage. Although she is widely cited as co-founder, Pitman Hughes had no formal role at the magazine. Pitman Hughes noted the unlikely nature of their friendship at the time, admitting the terror she felt of being seen in public with a white woman in her hometown of Lumpkin, Georgia, when Steinem would visit. In 2017, Ms. Pitman Hughes commissioned photographer Dan Bagan to create an homage portrait of the two friends together again in a similar pose for Ms. Steinem's 80th birthday.

In 1972, Pitman Hughes was a signer of the Ms. campaign "We Have Had Abortions" which called for an end to "archaic laws" limiting reproductive freedom, they encouraged women to share their stories and take action.

Later career Pitman Hughes was a guest lecturer at Columbia University, taught a course called "The Dynamics of Change" at the College of New Rochelle, and was a guest lecturer at City College, Manhattan.

In 1992, Pitman Hughes co-founded the Charles Junction Historic Preservation Society in Jacksonville, Florida, using the former Junction homestead to combat poverty through community gardening and food production.

In 1997 Pitman Hughes became the first African-American woman to own an office supply/copy center, Harlem Office Supply, Inc., and to become a member of the Stationers Association of New York (SANY). In May 1997, Pitman Hughes began to offer HOS stock at $1.00 a share to individuals, corporations, partnerships and non-profit organizations focused on African-American children. She wrote about her experiences in Wake Up and Smell the Dollars! (2000), advocating small business ownership to other African Americans as a form of empowerment. Pitman Hughes later wrote Just Saying... It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing (The Gentrification of Harlem) providing advice to African American business owners who might want to utilize similar government programs such as the JOBS Act, signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2012.

Pitman Hughes and Steinem spoke again in 2008 at Eckerd College where they reenacted their raised fist pose together. Steinem partnered in Pitman Hughes' efforts in the Northside community of Jacksonville, Florida, to combat hunger with community gardens, by appearing as a speaker and funding support. She was the mother of three daughters, sister of the singer Alice Tan Ridley and the aunt of actress Gabourey Sidibe.

In popular culture Janelle Monaé portrayed Pitman Hughes in the 2020 film The Glorias.

Works Life Is About Choices, Not Excuses: The Life of Ruther Youmans Tyson (2014). Jacksonville, Fla.: DPH Book Publishing. (as editor). I'm Just Saying, It looks Like Ethnic Cleansing: The Gentrification of Harlem (2012). Jacksonville, Fla.: DPH Book Publishing. . Wake Up and Smell the Dollars! Whose Inner-City Is this Anyway!: One Woman's Struggle Against Sexism, Classism, Racism, Gentrification, and the Empowerment Zone (2000). Phoenix, AZ: Amber Books. .