Women took an active role in organizing during the turbulent years of the 1960s and 1970s. The first women’s studies course was introduced at City College in 1970 by Professor Barbara Watson. Prof. Watson offered a course under the auspices of the English Department entitled, “Literature of Women’s Liberation.” The course, said to have unearthed the sleeping consciousness of women students and professors, grew into an interdisciplinary program with a core course in September 1973 entitled, “Women’s Role in Contemporary Society.”

(Whitmore, Dorothy, “Women’s Center,” Alumnus, Vol. 72 no. 2, Dec. 1976, p. 6)

The Women’s Grapevine, a publication from the mid 1970s, exemplifies some of the work of women involved in expressing their newly awakened consciousness, and in advocating for women’s issues. The Women’s Grapevine, took its name from the information and personal communication system that women used to receive and share information about women ’s issues.