A Saving Remnant: The Radical Lives of Barbara Deming and David McReynolds

by Martin Duberman

Overview

By the time their paths first crossed in the 1960s, Barbara Deming and David
McReynolds had each charted a unique course through the political and social worlds of the American left. Deming, a feminist, journalist, and political activist with an abiding belief in nonviolence, had been an out lesbian since the age of sixteen. The first openly gay man to run for president of the United States, on the Socialist Party ticket, McReynolds was also a longtime opponent of the Vietnam War—he was among the first activists to publicly burn a draft card after this became a felony—and friend to leading activists and artists from Bayard Rustin to Quentin Crisp.

In this remarkable dual biography, the prize-winning historian Martin Duberman
reveals a vital historical milieu of activism, radical ideas, and coming to terms with homosexuality when the gay rights movement was still in its nascent stages. With a cast of characters that includes intellectuals, artists, and activists from the critic Edmund White and the writer Mary McCarthy to the young Alvin Ailey and Allen Ginsberg, A Saving Remnant is a brilliant achievement from one of our most important historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595583239
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Martin Duberman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he founded and for a decade directed the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. The author of more than twenty books—including Andrea Dworkin, Radical Acts, Waiting to Land, Howard Zinn, The Martin Duberman Reader, Hold Tight Gently, and Paul Robeson: No One Can Silence Me (for young adults)—Duberman has won a Bancroft Prize and been a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

Preface 1

1 Barbara's Youth 7

2 David's Early Activism, Bohemia, and Homosexuality 27

3 Joining the Black Struggle 49

4 The Personal and the Political-the Early 1960s 79

5 David and the New Left 103

6 Protesting the War in Vietnam 125

7 The Late 1960s-Militancy and the Emergence of Feminism and Gay Liberation 145

8 Personal Matters 177

9 The War Resisters League, Socialism, and the Arms Race 195

10 Sugarloaf Key 217

11 At Eighty 231

Acknowledgments 247

Abbreviations 249

Notes 251

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

". . . [D]etailed and absorbing . . . [a]t a time when the country's poor are struggling, war rages on and and the word "socialist" is mostly just an insult hurled at any left-leaning politician or policy, there is something refreshing and inspiring about this story of unabashed radicals at work."
—New York Times Book Review

"[A] brilliant and remarkable biography . . . essential."
—Choice

"A fascinating dual biography . . . A Saving Remnant is an in-depth study of what it means to live the life of someone single-mindedly committed to a cause."
—The Gay and Lesbian Review

Female presidential candidates and gay marriages were unimaginable during the middle of the twentieth century. Discrimination and marginalization were daily facts of life for anyone who wasn't a straight, white male. The fight for basic civil rights has always been fraught with struggle and strife. It was the common goals of equality and acceptance that led the lives of Deming, an out lesbian, and McReynolds, an openly gay man (the first to run for president of the U.S., on the Socialist Party ticket in 1980), to intersect in the socially turbulent 1960s. McReynolds, a left-wing writer and antiwar protester still alive and kicking at 81, was a friend and contemporary of Allen Ginsberg and Alvin Ailey. Deming, a feminist and tireless advocate for nonviolent social change who died of cancer in 1984, was romantically involved with artist Mary Meigs for nearly 20 years. Duberman, a well-respected history professor and Pulitzer Prize finalist, chronicles the fascinating lives and complex friendship of these two passionate, radical activists in this dazzlingly detailed dual biography.
—Booklist

From the Publisher

Duberman (Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, CUNY; Stonewall) traces the intersecting lives of gay political activists Barbara Deming (1917–84) and David McReynolds (b. 1929), who were both dedicated to the causes of peace and civil rights, which are closely linked to their other passions: socialism for McReynolds, feminism for Deming. The selection of these two for a joint biography may at first seem unusual as they were merely acquaintances and not unique in their convictions or radical activism or in identifying as gay Americans. Nor did Deming or McReynolds always agree on the best methods for their activism, or work in concert in their efforts. Yet as readers follow the two strands of this biography, they will find numerous similarities. Albeit separately, both walked for civil rights in the South, traveled to North Vietnam to witness and protest the war, and contributed significant theory and dialog to the philosophy of their movements. VERDICT Duberman's extensively researched work highlights their courage to confront the parts of American society they found unjust and the role they played in changing social mores. Recommended for graduate students or activists familiar with the history of radical movements of the late 20th century, as Duberman does assume some prior knowledge.—Laura Ruttum, Denver

Library Journal

This detailed and absorbing dual biography…makes use of letters, private papers, diaries and recent interviews with McReynolds…The result is an intimate study, written in straightforward prose…In addition to drawing a lively portrait of two people, Duberman chronicles the intersecting lives of dozens of artists, activists and visionaries across several dec­ades…He examines divisions within the left as a whole and within its smaller factions, shining a light on what happens when noble ideals meet the flawed and complex human beings intent on carrying them out.
—The New York Times

J. Courtney Sullivan