Women's History in Florida
This guide from the State Library of Florida explores women’s history in Florida.
Materials are generally available through interlibrary loan or from our circulating collection.
Links within the bibliographies take you to information in our State Library catalog or to more information on external sites.
Books and publications
- Brown, Susan, and Caroline Rennolds Milbank. Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: the Artist Behind an Iconic American Fashion Brand, 1962-1985. New York, NY: Rizzoli Electa, 2020.
- Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River. Englewood, FL: Pineapple Press, 1987.
- Florida Commission on the Status of Women. Florida Women’s Hall of Fame. Tallahassee, FL: 1996.
- Florida Division of Historical Resources. Florida Women’s Heritage Trail (PDF). Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of State, 2001.
- Green, Elna C., ed. Looking for the New Deal: Florida Women’s Letters During the Great Depression. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2007.
- Hewitt, Nancy A. Southern Discomfort: Women’s Activism in Tampa, Florida, 1880s-1920s. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001.
- Hurston, Zora Neale. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters. Ed. Carla Kaplan. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2002.
- Macdonald, Peggy. Marjorie Harris Carr: Defender of Florida’s Environment. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2014.
- MacManus, Susan A., Barbara Langham, Tyler Myers, Lauren K. Gilmore, and David R. Colburn. Florida's Minority Trailblazers: the Men and Women Who Changed the Face of Florida Government. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2017.
- McCluskey, Audrey Thomas. A Forgotten Sisterhood: Pioneering Black Women Educators and Activists in the Jim Crow South. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
- Morris, Allen Covington. Florida Women Answer Roll Call: Glimpses of Some Women Lawmakers. Tallahassee, FL: Florida House of Representatives, 1990.
- Morris, Allen Covington. Women in the Florida Legislature. Tallahassee, FL: Florida House of Representatives, 1995.
- Poole, Leslie Kemp. Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the Twentieth Century. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2015.
- Revels, Tracy J. Grander in Her Daughters: Florida’s Women During the Civil War. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2004.
- Robertson, Ashley N. Mary McLeod Bethune in Florida: Bringing Social Justice to the Sunshine State. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2015.
- Schafer, Daniel L. Anna Madgigine, Jai Kingsley: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slaveowner. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003.
- Tuthill, Robin C., and Thomas P. Hall. Female Pioneers of Fort Myers: Women Who Made a Difference in the City's Development. North Fort Myers, FL: Editorial RX Press, 2015.
- Vance, Linda D. May Mann Jennings, Florida’s Genteel Activist. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1985.
- Weatherford, Doris. They Dared to Dream: Florida Women Who Shaped History. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2015.
- Wentz, Rachel K. Chasing Bones: An Archaeologist’s Pursuit of Skeletons. Cocoa, FL: Florida Historical Society Press, 2011.
- White, Nancy Marie, Lynne P. Sullivan, and Rochelle A. Marrinan, eds. Grit-Tempered: Early Women Archaeologists in the Southeastern United States. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1999.
- Williams, Hettie V. Bury My Heart in a Free Land: Black Women Intellectuals in Modern U.S. History. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2018.
- Wright, E. Lynne. More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Florida Women. 2nd ed. Guildford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2010.
Articles
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Bryant, Jean Gould. "From the Margins to the Center: Southern Women's Activism, 1820-1970." The Florida Historical Quarterly 77.4 (1999): 405-28.
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Carver, Joan S. “First League of Women Voters in Florida: Its Troubled History.” Florida Historical Quarterly 63.4 (1985): 383–405.
- Cox, Nicole C. “Selling Seduction: Women and Feminine Nature in 1920s Florida Advertising.” Florida Historical Quarterly 89.2 (2010): 186–209.
- Ellis, Mary Carolyn, and Joanne V. Hawks. “Creating a Different Pattern: Florida’s Women Legislators, 1928-1986.” Florida Historical Quarterly 66.1 (1987): 68–83.
- Johnson, Kenneth R. “Florida Women Get the Vote.” Florida Historical Quarterly 48.3 (1970): 299–312.
- Jones, Maxine D. ‘"Without Compromise or Fear": Florida's African American Female Activists.’ The Florida Historical Quarterly 77.4 (1999): 475-502.
- McCluskey, Audrey Thomas. "Ringing Up a School: Mary Mcleod Bethune's Impact on Daytona." The Florida Historical Quarterly 73.2 (1994): 200-17.
- Turcotte, Florence M. “For This Is an Enchanted Land: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and the Florida Environment.” Florida Historical Quarterly 90.4 (2012): 488–504.
Digital resources
- Florida International University Libraries. “A Tale of Two Women: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Marjorie Carr.” dPanther Repository.
- Florida State University Libraries. “League of Women Voters, Tallahassee Chapter Records.” FSU Digital Library.
- Florida State University Libraries. “National Organization for Women, Tallahassee Chapter Records.” FSU Digital Library.
- State Library and Archives of Florida. “Angela Davis.” Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
- State Library and Archives of Florida. “Stephens Sisters Jail-In Papers, 1960.” Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
- State Library and Archives of Florida. “Women’s History Month at the State Library and Archives of Florida.” Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
- State Library and Archives of Florida. “Zora Neale Hurston and the WPA in Florida.” Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
- University of South Florida Libraries. “Sally Watt Radio Programs.” USF Libraries Digital Collections.