Susanna Felder Downie was born November 21, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Robert Rex and Emily Cobb Downie. She married Wilfred Sellars (1912-1989), an American philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. Susanna Downie was extremely active in the local Pittsburgh-area feminist movement. She served on the editorial board for the Pittsburgh Feminist Network and its publication, which was originally entitled Allegheny Feminist and later renamed the Network News. She was also active in the National Organization for Women (NOW) at both the local and state levels. In the 1970s and 1980s, Downie taught at the Women's Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. In conjunction with her position at the Center, she served as the principle editor for the publication Decade of Achievement, 1977-1987: a report on a survey based on the national plan of action for women. The "National Plan of Action" was enacted at the 1977 National Women's Conference which addressed twenty-six areas where women needed to work for advancement within society. Downie served as researcher and editor to evaluate the progress of the action ten years later, which resulted in the publication. Another publication authored by Downie was the book, The marriage and the crisis of Emily Dickinson: a study of the vocabulary and some poems, of the 1860-1865 period. She was also actively involved in the Women's International News Service (WINS) and the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) and helped organize their 1985 conference in Nairobi, Kenya. In addition to her academic work, Downie was a passionate advocate in the peace movement. She was a member of local peace organizations Peace Links and the Pittsburgh Women's Peace Network. Downie was also interested in environmental activism and was an ardent developer of sustainable living; for a time she lived in Lakemont, Georgia, and built a geodesic dome house. She later moved to Montana and then later Iowa to "live off the land." Susanna Downie died in Fairfield, Iowa, on November 7, 2003.
From the description of Susanna Downie papers, 1972-1990. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 586082022
