Margaret Prescod facts for kids

Margaret Prescod is an important activist, writer, journalist, and radio host. She helped start groups like The Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders. She also co-founded Black Women for Wages for Housework. Margaret Prescod is part of the leadership team for the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health. This center is at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health.

Early Life and Education

Margaret Prescod was born in Barbados, an island country. She moved to the United States in 1962 when she was a teenager. Just two weeks after arriving, she joined a protest. She was protesting a medical center in Brooklyn that would not hire Black people.

Prescod studied at Long Island University for her first degree. She then started a course at the Teachers College, Columbia University. However, she left to work as a teacher helping adults improve their reading and writing skills. During this time, she became very active in the civil rights movement. This movement worked for equal rights for all people.

Margaret Prescod's Career and Activism

In the early 1970s, Margaret Prescod began focusing on helping mothers. At that time, she was a school teacher in New York City. She also worked with the United Nations. She took part in important meetings during the United Nations Decade for Women. This was a special time from 1975 to 1985 focused on women's issues.

In 1975, she started the International Black Women for Wages for Housework program with Wilmette Brown. This program argued that housework, often done by women without pay, should be recognized as valuable work.

Writing and Advocacy

In 1980, Margaret Prescod wrote a book called Black Women: Bringing it All Back Home. This book was one of the first to look at how women, immigration, and race are connected.

In 1985, she moved to Los Angeles. There, she became involved with the Utility Workers Union of America. She continued her work with the Wages for Housework campaign. She even spoke at the yearly meetings of both the Democratic and Republican Party. Prescod wanted people to understand that unpaid work done by women is a big part of the economy.

Fighting for Justice

In 1986, Prescod started the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders. She created this group after several women were murdered in South Los Angeles. She wanted to make sure the police and leaders investigated these crimes properly. She also wanted to ensure the victims were treated with respect.

The group paused its work in the mid-1990s. But it started again in 2008 when the crimes began happening once more. Her efforts to bring attention to these cases were later featured in a film by HBO in 2014.

Radio Host

Today, Margaret Prescod hosts and produces a radio show called Sojourner Truth. The show is broadcast by KPFK and shared by other radio stations like WPFW in Washington DC and WBAI in New York City. The show is named after Sojourner Truth, a famous activist who fought against slavery and for women's rights.

Personal Life

Margaret Prescod's daughter is Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. Chanda is a scientist who studies the universe (a cosmologist). She is also a science writer and an activist for equality.

Selected Publications

• Black Women: Bringing it All Back Home (1980)