Robin Morgan Dies at 85: Child Star Who Became a Defining Voice of Second-Wave Feminism

Robin Morgan, the former child star who became a poet, author, editor and influential leader of the second-wave feminist movement, has died at 85.

Morgan died Saturday, September 5, in New York after experiencing a series of health problems in recent weeks, her son, Blake Morgan, said. Her death came only days after the death of her longtime friend and fellow feminist leader Gloria Steinem, adding another major loss to the generation that reshaped the modern American women’s movement.

Morgan’s life was remarkable for the distance it traveled. She became famous as a wholesome child performer in the 1940s and 1950s before turning toward poetry, political activism and feminism. She eventually became one of the most recognizable voices of the women’s liberation movement, helping organize protests, edit influential feminist writing and build institutions that continued her work for decades.

Robin Morgan’s Death Comes Days After Gloria Steinem’s

Morgan and Steinem were close friends and collaborators for decades. Steinem died at 92 on September 2, just three days before Morgan’s death.

The two women were involved in some of the most important organizations and campaigns of the modern feminist movement. In 2005, Morgan, Steinem and Jane Fonda co-founded the Women’s Media Center, an organization focused on increasing the visibility and influence of women and girls in media.

Morgan remained active well into later life. Even after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease years earlier, she continued writing, speaking and working on new projects. Her son said she was still working on books and poetry before her death.

From ‘Little Robin Morgan’ to Radical Activist

Long before she became a feminist icon, Morgan was a familiar face to American television audiences.

Born in 1941 in Lake Worth, Florida, and raised in New York, she began modeling when she was only 3 years old. By age 5, she was hosting her own radio program, “Little Robin Morgan,” and appearing on the popular program “Juvenile Jury.”

From 1949 to 1957, she appeared on the television comedy series “Mama” and made appearances on programs including “Robert Montgomery Presents” and “Kraft Theater.”

The image presented to the public was that of an innocent, talented and exceptionally well-behaved young star. But Morgan later described a much more rebellious personality beneath that carefully cultivated image.

One early example came during an episode of “Juvenile Jury,” when she rejected the expected joke about disciplining a child and instead argued against physical punishment.

That incident became, in her own telling, an early example of the willingness to challenge authority that would define her adult life.

Morgan Helped Define Second-Wave Feminism

Morgan became politically active as a teenager and young adult, participating in civil rights and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations while developing her career as a poet.

By the 1960s, she was increasingly involved in the growing women’s liberation movement.

One of the most famous moments came in 1968, when Morgan helped organize a protest against the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Demonstrators criticized the pageant’s treatment of women and beauty standards.

Protesters placed items including bras and other symbols of what they viewed as restrictive expectations for women into a “Freedom Trash Can.” The event later became associated with the popular—but inaccurate—idea that feminists had literally burned their bras.

The protest became one of the defining images of early second-wave feminism.

Morgan’s influence was not limited to demonstrations. In 1970, she edited “Sisterhood Is Powerful,” an anthology of feminist writing that became an important text for the modern women’s movement.

She later edited “Sisterhood Is Global” in 1984 and “Sisterhood Is Forever” in 2002, extending the series across several generations of feminist thought.

She Was Credited With Popularizing ‘Herstory’

Morgan’s impact was also linguistic and cultural.

She is widely credited with coining or popularizing “herstory,” a feminist reworking of the word “history” intended to challenge traditional accounts of the past that feminists argued had marginalized women.

Her poetry was similarly intertwined with her political activism.

Her collection “Monster” became particularly associated with the women’s liberation movement. Her poem “Arraignment,” meanwhile, became part of the feminist debate surrounding poet Sylvia Plath and her husband, Ted Hughes.

Morgan’s writing could be provocative, confrontational and intensely personal. Her work frequently connected the private experiences of women with larger political and cultural structures.

Her son, Blake Morgan, said she had a particular ability to take complicated ideas and reduce them to concise, memorable language.

Morgan Challenged Both the Political Left and Right

Morgan did not fit neatly into conventional political categories.

She was involved with radical political organizations and helped found groups including New York Radical Women and W.I.T.C.H., the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell.

She was also briefly associated with the Yippies, the counterculture movement linked to activists including Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin.

But Morgan became increasingly critical of sexism within the broader radical movement itself.

Her 1970 essay “Goodbye to All That” became particularly well known for its criticism of prominent men in the counterculture and political left. Morgan’s activism could therefore be directed not only at conservative institutions but also at people and movements that claimed to be progressive.

Her confrontational politics also brought legal consequences. In 1970, she and other protesters were arrested following an occupation of the offices of Grove Press during a labor dispute.

She Became an Editor and Institutional Builder

Morgan’s influence extended beyond protests and poetry.

She served as editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine, one of the most important publications associated with the American feminist movement. She also helped establish the Sisterhood Is Global Institute in 1984.

In 2005, she joined Steinem and Fonda in founding the Women’s Media Center, creating another major platform for women’s voices in journalism, entertainment and public life.

Her body of work eventually grew to more than 20 books, including poetry collections, feminist essays, anthologies and her 2001 memoir “Saturday’s Child.”

A Life That Refused Easy Labels

Morgan’s personal life was as unconventional as her politics.

She had relationships with both men and women and was married for more than two decades to poet Kenneth Pitchford. They had a son, Blake Morgan, who went on to work as a musician, producer and record company executive.

Morgan resisted attempts to fit her life into simple categories. She later wrote about the pressure she experienced from people who believed her politics or relationships should dictate how she identified herself.

That resistance to easy labels became part of her broader philosophy: Morgan consistently pushed back against expectations about how women were supposed to behave, think and live.

Her Poetry Remained Central to Her Activism

Although Morgan became famous as an activist, editor and feminist organizer, she considered herself primarily a poet and artist.

That distinction mattered to her.

Her writing gave her a way to express political ideas through compressed language, imagery and emotion. Her activism, in turn, gave her poetry a direct connection to the social movements around her.

She published poetry collections including “Monster” and “Dark Matter,” while continuing to write essays and books throughout her life.

Later, she also hosted a syndicated radio program and spoke publicly about living with Parkinson’s disease, which became a subject of some of her poetry and public work.

Robin Morgan’s Legacy

Morgan’s career crossed several seemingly incompatible worlds: child television celebrity, poet, radical activist, feminist theorist, magazine editor and institution builder.

That unusual journey became central to her legacy.

She helped turn feminist ideas into books, protests, organizations and language that could reach audiences far beyond activist circles. “Sisterhood Is Powerful” became an enduring reference point for the women’s movement, while her work with feminist organizations helped create structures that continued after the activism of the 1960s and 1970s.

Her death also comes at a particularly poignant moment for the movement she helped shape, following Steinem’s death just days earlier.

For Morgan, however, activism was never entirely separate from art. She spent her life moving between poetry and protest, using each to strengthen the other.

Robin Morgan was 85.

Her work as a writer, organizer and feminist voice helped change the language of American politics—and the way generations of women understood their own lives.