Roxcy Bolton

Roxcy Bolton (left) with Eleanor Roosevelt, ca. 1956.

Roxcy O'Neal Bolton (born 1926, Duck Hill, Mississippi) is a Florida feminist and women's rights activist.[1]

She married Commander David Bolton, USN, who later acted as president of Men for ERA.

Achievements

In 1966, Bolton helped form Florida's National Organization for Women, serving as charter president of the Miami Chapter and National Vice President in 1969. In 1969, she successfully challenged the practice that many store restaurants had of keeping a separate "men only" section. She founded Women in Distress, a shelter for homeless women.[2]

In 1972 she encouraged President Nixon to issue a proclamation honoring Women's Equality Day, which he did.[3] His proclamation was presented to her in recognition of her encouragement.[3]

In 1974 she founded the nation's first Rape Treatment Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, later renamed the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center in 1993.[4] That same year she organized Florida's first Crime Watch meeting to help stem crime against women. She was also instrumental in bringing several rape cases to the attention of the public, despite police concerns.

She challenged N.O.A.A (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to change the names of hurricanes to include the names of men, which they did.[3]

She was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 1984 for "forcing police and prosecutors to make rape crime a priority".[5] A collection of her artifacts is owned by the Museum of Florida History.[6]

Bolton led the effort to create the Women’s Park in Miami, which opened in 1992 as the first outdoor space in America honoring past and present women leaders.[7]

Her Coral Gables home was dedicated as a Florida Heritage Site in 1999.[8][9][10]

References

  1. ↑ Roxcy Bolton, Pioneer Feminist Florida Memory. Accessed September 23, 2009
  2. ↑ Buchanan, Edna (1989). "Sex". The Corpse Had a Familiar Face: Covering Miami, America's Hottest Beat. Charter. p. 173. ISBN 1-55773-284-1.
  3. 1 2 3 http://floridamemory.com/blog/2013/08/26/womens-equality-day/
  4. ↑ "State Library and Archives of Florida Exhibit Honors Roxcy Bolton and Women's Equality Day" (Press release). Florida Department of State, Kurt S. Browning, Interim Secretary of State. July 22, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
  5. ↑ HONORING DR. JEANA BRUNSON The United States House of Representatives Feb 10, 2009. Accessed September 23, 2009
  6. ↑ " "Roxcy Bolton Collection". Museum of Florida History.
  7. ↑ http://www.nwhp.org/whm/honorees2012.php
  8. ↑ Harakas, Margo (May 26, 1999). "Roxcy's Heritage". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  9. ↑ Roxcy Bolton Collection Museum of Florida History. Accessed February 2, 2011
  10. ↑ unimoggers. "WOMEN TAKE ACTION IN CORAL GABLES (The Roxcy O'Neal Bolton House)". Waymarking. Retrieved 2 February 2011.

http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/RoxcyBolton/index.cfm

External links

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