Mary R. Boone was a student at North Carolina State University in 1982, and she belonged to a group that brought Sonia Johnson to campus to speak. Johnson had just authored the book titled From Housewife to Heretic, an account of Johnson's personal journey as a previous member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. Johnson's speech inspired Boone (then known as Mary Barnes) to join with six other women in a hunger strike to support the Equal Rights Amendment, then being considered by the states for ratification. Though the Equal Rights Amendment failed to pass, the hunger strike generated much publicity and interest, even inciting sympathy fasts among supporters of the protest group.
From the guide to the Mary R. Boone Papers, Bulk, 1982-1983, 1982-1983, 2006, (Special Collections Research Center)
