Women's Rights Activist Midge Miller Passed Away
Activist and Former Wisconsin Lawmaker Dies at Age 86
Apr 18, 2009
Marjorie “Midge” Miller passed away at age 86, leaving behind a legacy of work and activism promoting the rights of women as a former legislator and advocate.
A State Legislator for Women
Miller's political activism began in opposition to the Vietnam war and working for the anti-war Democrat Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign. But not content to work behind the scenes for other politicians, she entered the public life of politics herself in 1970 when she was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly. It was the first of seven two-year terms she would serve for the state legislature.
As a legislator, she championed the causes of peace and equality. She was behind the nation's first referendum for a nuclear weapons freeze that was later approved in 1982 by voters. She also pushed for Wisconsin to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. In addition to her fourteen years as a state legislator, she also served on the Democratic National Committee for nine years.
An "Energy Cell" for Feminism
As much as Miller devoted herself personally to her passions of peace and gender equality, she also organized others to pursue similar ideals. She helped to establish the National Women's Political Caucus, a bi-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to training, recruiting and supporting women's participation in politics and encouraging more women to seek political office.
The National Women's Political Caucus, founded in 1971, focused on three main issues: reproductive freedom, affordable childcare and the Equal Rights Amendment. In pursuit of these goals, Miller worked alongside such feminist heavyweights as Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, Betty Friedan, and Myrlie Evers. Steinem would later call Miller, an "energy cell."
Her Professional Passion from Personal Life
Before she began her career in activism and politics, Miller was a missionary and an academic. With her husband Dean Leeper, she moved to post-war Japan to serve as a missionary. The couple had three children together. While Miller was pregnant with their fourth child in 1954, Leeper was killed in a shipwreck from a typhoon.
In 1957, she returned to the United States and attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She became an assistant dean of anthropology for the school in 1960. Her experiences as a single widow with four children was a catalyst for her interest in activism for women's rights.
In 1963, Miller married Ed Miller, a physics professor and widower with five children from his previous marriage. Just as her experiences as a single mother inspired her towards politics, her compassion for her now seven sons pushed her towards activism for peace. "When I was working hard against the Vietnam War, people used to come up to me and say, 'How can you do all of this, don't you have children to take care of?'" Miller told Isthmus. "I would say, 'I have seven sons, most of them are draft age. What would you do for yours, go home and bake cookies?'"
With her death, Miller leaves behind a legacy in politics and activism as well as a loving family of nine children and stepchildren.
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