WASHINGTON — Robin Morgan, the former child star who became a poet, writer and leading figure in second-wave feminism, died Saturday in New York at 85 after a series of health problems in recent weeks, her son Blake Morgan said.
Morgan remained active as a writer and continued working on books and poems until her death. She died days after the death of her longtime friend and fellow feminist activist Gloria Steinem.
Morgan gained national attention as a child performer in the 1940s and 1950s before turning to poetry, political activism and feminist writing. She helped organize the first protest against the Miss America pageant in 1968 and edited the 1970 anthology “Sisterhood Is Powerful,” a major text of the modern women’s movement.
Her work also helped popularize the feminist term “herstory.” She also promoted the clenched-fist and female-symbol image associated with the women’s liberation movement.
Morgan considered herself primarily a poet, and her writing often shaped her activism. Her son said she could reduce complex ideas to concise phrases, including her statement, “hate generalizes, love specifies.”
Morgan challenged political and social institutions across the ideological spectrum. In 1970, police arrested her and other protesters after they occupied the offices of Grove Press during a labor dispute. That same year, she published “Goodbye to All That,” an essay that criticized prominent figures in the counterculture and political left.
She helped establish feminist organizations including New York Radical Women and W.I.T.C.H., and later co-founded the Sisterhood Is Global Institute in 1984. In 2005, Morgan, Steinem and Jane Fonda founded the Women’s Media Center, which advocates for greater visibility and influence for women and girls in media.
Morgan wrote more than 20 books, including the memoir “Saturday’s Child,” the poetry collections “Monster” and “Dark Matter,” and “The Word of a Woman: Feminist Dispatches.” She also edited Ms. Magazine for several years.
Born in 1941 in Lake Worth, Florida, Morgan grew up in New York and entered show business as a young child. She began modeling at 3 and hosted the radio program “Little Robin Morgan” at 5. She also appeared on “Juvenile Jury” and starred in the television series “Mama” from 1949 to 1957.
Even as a child, Morgan challenged expectations attached to her public image. During one “Juvenile Jury” broadcast, she rejected the idea that adults should physically punish children, despite instructions to deliver a humorous response.
Morgan later attended classes at Columbia University, joined poetry workshops and became active in civil rights and anti-war demonstrations. She developed relationships with writers, artists and political activists during the 1960s.
Her personal life also resisted conventional labels. Morgan had relationships with men and women and spent more than 20 years married to poet Kenneth Pitchford, with whom she had her son. She described their marriage as a “two member commune.”
In her memoir, Morgan reflected on the unlikely path from child celebrity to feminist activist and writer.
She continued her activism and creative work after doctors diagnosed her with Parkinson’s disease 16 years ago. The condition influenced several of her poems and a 2015 TEDWomen talk.
Morgan’s work continued to influence feminist activism, literature and media decades after she emerged from her career as a child star.