Document 87B: Casey Hayden (aka Sandra Cason) to Mary King, Maria Varella, Penny Patch, Elayne DeLott Baker, Emily Shrader Adams and Theresa del Pozzo, 21 June 1978, Elaine DeLott Baker Papers, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

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Introduction

   The second query in this correspondence is from Casey Hayden to other Freedom Summer women who Casey thought might have co-authored the Waveland memo.


424 Greenwich St.
New York City 10013

June 21, 1978

To: Mary King
Maria Varella
Penny Patch
Elayne deLott Baker
Emily Schrader Adams
Theresa del Pozzo

From: Casey Cason

Hi.

    I am enclosing copies of some correspondence I recently received from Sara Evans, with whom I have been in contact regarding her doctoral thesis, which is called Personal Politics, The Roots of the Women's Movement in the New Left, an interesting historical study for which I feel a great deal of empathy.

    One of the events she has traced is an unsigned paper which was circulated at the Waveland meeting about women and the movement. I recalled the meeting and the paper and my recollection was that I'd written it and some of you folks had also somehow been involved and that no one wanted to sign it because of the racial tensions prevalent at the time. It also seemed to me several people guessed Ruby Doris Robinson had written it and that she neither affirmed or denied it. It has sometimes been attributed to her since then. Penny Patch confirmed that she remembered there was such a paper and that I had written it but neither of us could really recall the content.

    Sara has just sent me a copy of this mysterious piece of writing, which I enclose. While I recognize some phrases, the piece as a whole seems unfamiliar enough to me that I hesitate to claim authorship. Maybe my memory has simply failed me about the content, but it is possible my whole recollection of the situation is inaccurate. None of us seem to have a very clear picture of those days. In the interest of historical accuracy I am asking you to send any comments you might have to me, with a copy to Sara if possible. Piecing it together like a quilt, since it is our own history (herstory?). Thanks very, very much for your time and help.

Love,
[Signed]
Casey

encl.

cc: Sara Evans
Department of History
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota



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