Cagan, Leslie

Leslie Cagan was born in New York City in 1947. She graduated from New York University in 1968 with a degree in Art History. Cagan began her political involvement at NYU, participating in numerous campus organizations and campaigns, including the Ad Hoc Committee for a Democratic University, the Ad Hoc Committee to Oppose Tuition Increase, and the protest of Dow Chemical Company. During this time, she was also involved in the Student Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam and offered support to the student strike at Columbia University. Cagan was a staff member of the Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam.

In the 1970s, Cagan’s participation in the feminist movement began. She worked with the St. Louis Women’s Radio Show from 1971-1972 and throughout the 1970s produced shows with the Red Tape Media Collective for the Boston Feminist Radio Network. In Boston, she helped to found the Boston Area Socialist Feminist Organization and the Boston Women’s Union. These organizations participated in regional activities in and around Boston, including the “Yes We Can” Fair and Demonstration and “Choices!” the Women’s Expo. From 1974-1979, Cagan attended numerous national Marxist and socialist feminist conferences. In the late 1970s, Cagan grew increasingly involved in the pro-choice movement. She organized for the Abortion Action Coalition and the Abortion Task Force of the People’s Alliance. Under the auspices of these organizations as well as the Reproductive Rights National Network, Cagan was a leader of the petition campaigns to defeat the Henry Hyde Amendment, which limited federal funding for abortion. In 1979, she coordinated the Abortion Rights Action Week in Boston and the International Day of Action on Abortion and Sterilization. Cagan also participated in International Women’s Day events and the Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women.

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