{"id":34859,"date":"2020-06-11T21:47:11","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T01:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/?p=34859"},"modified":"2022-03-28T11:18:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T15:18:41","slug":"gray-panthers","status":"publish","type":"egp_essays","link":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/essays\/gray-panthers\/","title":{"rendered":"Gray Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1970, Philadelphian Maggie Kuhn<\/span>\u00a0(1905-95)<\/span>, a<\/span>\u00a0white middle-class woman and frustrated victim of mandatory retirement<\/span>\u00a0at age 65<\/span>, forme<\/span>d an anti-ageist organization called the Gray Panthers. From challenging mandatory retirement to critiquing ageist media depictions of older Americans, the Gray Panthers fought to recreate the image, expectations<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and roles of middle-class retirees in American society. Inspired by social movements of the 1960s, emboldened by their own lengthy activist backgrounds, and frustrated by the absence of an anti-ageist movement, these Gray Panther activists remained politically and socially active by fighting against ageism in their retirement years.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Maggie Kuhn founded the Gray Panthers in 1970 after being subject to mandatory retirement at her previous job. Kuhn urged older people to \u201cget out of their rocking chairs and into public affairs.\u201d (Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After being\u00a0<\/span>subjected to mandatory retirement\u00a0<\/span>in 1970, months before her\u00a0<\/span>sixty-fifth<\/span>\u00a0birthday, Kuhn<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>along with five other <\/span>older, professional women facing retirement founded the Consultation of Older Persons, later named the Gray Panthers. A janitor\u2019s broom closet in the Tabernacle Church<\/a> in West Philadelphia served as their first office<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and retirees volunteered their time to organize\u00a0<\/span>local events. These women believed that older persons were \u201ca great national resource which has largely been unrecognized, undervalued and unused\u201d\u00a0<\/span>and that\u00a0<\/span>retirees should remain politically and socially \u201cinvolved in new and significant ways.\u201d The movement quickly gained overwhelming support as thousands, both young and old, joined the Gray Panthers to fight<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>against ageism.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In 1972, Kuhn,\u00a0<\/span>by then 67 and nationally recognized,\u00a0<\/span>addressed reporters and introduced<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the radical Gray Panthers to the nation a<\/span>s a new liberation movement to\u00a0<\/span>motivate seniors to \u201cget out of their rocking chairs and into public affairs.\u201d This movement was unlike the economic-driven struggles\u00a0<\/span>during\u00a0<\/span>the 1930s\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>the membership\u00a0<\/span>organizations for retirees founded during\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>1950s and 1960s. Distinctly, Kuhn mobilized the elderly toward social activism. The Gray Panthers was an organization of the aged acting on behalf of the aged. Kuhn and the Gray Panthers encouraged grassroots organization and emboldened older, retired Americans to be vocal and active in society and address political issues that both applied to their specific age-based concerns and transcended age.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reform Successes<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The organization\u2019s greatest accomplishments included a role in changing mandatory retirement laws, reforming nursing homes, critiquing media depictions of older Americans, and raising public awareness to the vulnerability of older people. Gray Panther members regularly testified before Congress, served on the White House Council of Aging<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and helped found the Older Women\u2019s League, the Black Caucus for the Aged<\/a>, the National Shared Housing Resource Center, and the National Coalition for Nursing Home Reform<\/a> as well. At one point, the Gray Panthers recorded over 75,000 members and 122 networks in\u00a0<\/span>forty-three<\/span>\u00a0states throughout the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Black
Like other social movements of the twentieth century, the Gray Panthers engaged in street demonstrations and pickets. In this photograph from June 1974, Gray Panthers protest outside the American Medical Association\u2019s convention in Chicago. (Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In o<\/span>ne example of their activist activity, during the 1976 Christmas season<\/span>, the Gray Panthers picketed businesses in Philadelphia and Chicago. After being informed that all John Wanamaker department store employees over the age of 65 were going to be let go the day before Christmas, the\u00a0<\/span>Gray Panthers networks in\u00a0<\/span>Philadelphia<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0Willingboro, New Jersey<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0and South Jersey staged a two-hour demonstration at the store<\/span>s<\/span>, handing out over\u00a0<\/span>three thousand\u00a0<\/span>pink slips to shoppers \u201ctelling the story of \u2018Scrooge Reincarnated.\u201d That same week in Chicago, Gray Panthers\u00a0<\/span>in Santa Claus suits picketed the\u00a0<\/span>department store<\/span>\u00a0Carson, Pirie, and Scott for\u00a0<\/span>its\u00a0<\/span>mandatory retirement policies. Standing on State Street, Panthers held signs that read<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0\u201cSanta Claus is too old to work for Carson, Pirie, Scott.\u201d The protesting Santa Clauses sang Christmas carols such as \u201cDeck the Halls\u201d and abruptly stop<\/span>ped<\/span>\u00a0and pull<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0enormous white handkerchiefs to cry into. Both events were well covered by local news and radio stations.<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he Gray Panther networks served as<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>gatherings\u00a0<\/span>where older<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>predominantly\u00a0<\/span>white<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>middle<\/span>–<\/span>class Americans <\/span>came<\/span>\u00a0together<\/span>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>critique society\u2019s social, economic, and cultural expectations of the aged, redefine old age, and be empowered. Indeed, older Americans challenged the social and cultural expectations of older people in various spheres, eschewed images of the aged as static, traditional, and sedentary individuals, and fought to create a new image of older Americans as dynamic, productive, and a necessary component of American society.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gray Panthers\u00a0<\/span>continued to be active in<\/span>\u00a0the early decades of the twenty-first century<\/span>, though on a much smaller scale. Their national office moved to Washington<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0D.C.<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and networks\u00a0<\/span>existed\u00a0<\/span>in many<\/span>\u00a0states\u2014some more active than others. Their primary\u00a0<\/span>concerns focused\u00a0<\/span>on universal health care, protecting the environment, promoting peace, civil rights and liberties as well as jobs and economic security<\/span>, extending the legacy of the Philadelphia-born Gray Panthers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Emily\u00a0<\/b>Krichbaum<\/b><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>is a<\/span><\/i>n Ohio-based writer and historian whose<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Ph.D.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>dissertation was\u00a0<\/span><\/i>about<\/span><\/i>\u00a0the Gray Panthers<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>S<\/span><\/i>he has published<\/span><\/i>\u00a0work<\/span><\/i>\u00a0on Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Older Women\u2019s League<\/span><\/i>, and other subjects<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(Author information current at time of publication.)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1970, Philadelphian Maggie Kuhn\u00a0(1905-95), a\u00a0white middle-class woman and frustrated victim of mandatory retirement\u00a0at age 65, formed an anti-ageist organization called the Gray Panthers. From challenging mandatory retirement to critiquing ageist media depictions of older Americans, the Gray Panthers fought to recreate the image, expectations,\u00a0and roles of middle-class retirees in American society. Inspired by social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"template":"","egp_featured_subjects":[1991,2037],"class_list":["post-34859","egp_essays","type-egp_essays","status-publish","hentry","egp_featured_subjects-activism","egp_featured_subjects-women"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/egp_essays\/34859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/egp_essays"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/egp_essays"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/egp_essays\/34859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36800,"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/egp_essays\/34859\/revisions\/36800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"egp_featured_subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philadelphiaencyclopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/egp_featured_subjects?post=34859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}