Sex and Caste at 50

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

While Tom Hayden’s history in SDS looms large, Casey was an early recruit.  She authored with Al Haber several documents that linked SDS and civil rights. (FN to those in )[1]  Casey brought not only experience as an organizer, but a thorough understanding as a southerner of the challenges northern students would face working in the south.  Throughout 1962 Casey contributed to the intellectual development of SDS manifesto and served as conference coordinator at Port Huron.  The conference drew 59 students representing 11 chapters of SDS, an intimate gathering by movement standards.  Hayden “hold on” (Morgan p 92)
 
Several scholars have credited Casey Hayden with an influence on the Port Huron statement, although in her own remarks on the 50th anniversary she spoke about the document as Tom's. She has recounted how she disagreed vociferously with one particular clause in Port Huron (Hogan).
 
The Hayden's home in Ann Arbor provided one of the locations where Casey began having conversations with other women.  Many scholars have recounted the details of the division of the sexes, with the men insisting on talking theory, on weekend evenings and holidays, while the women went upstairs.  

Hayden and a few other SDS women, including Mickey Flacks and Sharon Jeffrey, worked with Ann Arbor’s Women for Peace.[2]  The Haydens traveled to DC as part of the October 1982 march in protests of the Cuban missile  has later spoken of the importance of 
 
 
 
[1] Al Haber and Sandra Carson, “Civil Rights in the North,” pp. 2, 3, 4, reel 37, SDS Papers. pp. 2, 3, 4, reel 37, also in Americans for Democratic Action Papers. Al Haber and Sandra Cason, Civil Rights in the North: A Discussion Paper, Distributed by Students for a Democratic Society for The Liberal Study Group, Al Haber, Sandra Cason, "Memo Re: Proposed student project in voter registration, August 3, 1961 Tamiment
 
 
 
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[2] Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s