Pryde Brown

Pryde Brown (born 1935) is an American photographer and feminist best known for her portrait and wedding photography. She opened her photography studio in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1970, and was an active member of the National Organization for Women and Women on Words and Images.

Personal life

Brown graduated from Sweet Briar College in June 1956. She married creative nonfiction writer John McPhee less than a year after graduating, on March 16, 1957.

Brown and McPhee separated in 1969 She subsequently married Texan psychologist Dan Sullivan.

The family lived there with their large "blended family," which included Brown's four daughters from her first marriage, Sullivan's five children from his first marriage, and their youngest daughter Joan. They also had a range of pets and animals, including a donkey and chickens.

While married to Sullivan, Brown became the primary breadwinner with her photography. In 2017, Brown developed signs of dementia.

When Brown's friend Ulli Steltzer announced she was leaving her Princeton photo studio, Brown and Elaine Miller Pilshaw took over the studio. In her first years of photography work, Brown took classes, learned from Steltzer, and learned by doing. Brown often took on interns as part of her studio. formed a group called Women on Words and Images, and they studied books by major publishers. The group found that statistically both children's and adult books portrayed boys more often than girls. In these same children's books, boys were more often depicted as creative, whereas girls were shown taking part in domestic chores.

In 1972, the group published its findings in the influential book, Dick and Jane as Victims, which was revised and republished in 1975. Brown and the group also co-published Channeling Children: Sex Stereotyping on Prime Time TV in 1975.