Activist Jeanne Arnold Makes Connections in Racine

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Photo: Jeanne Arnold - Facebook

Jeanne Arnold

Jeanne Arnold

Racine’s LGBT population has played a large role in the community throughout its recent history. Two examples: Greta Neubauer has made great strides in bringing equality to the state senate and the LGBT SE Center located in Racine’s uptown area helps marginalized youth make connections. 

One activist who has been a pioneer for this local community is Jeanne Arnold, a musician, community volunteer, Unitarian Universalist activist and founder of the influential feminist bookstore, Mother Courage. She is currently Racine Writer in Residence, a program funded through the Osborne and Scekic Family foundation. She is writing on a variety of topics, including the history of Racine, her activism and art in general on the Racine Collective ArtRoots blog. I met with Arnold to discuss her career, her activism, and her relationship with the city.

Describe your journey to joining the feminism movement.

I was unhappy not having equal rights as a girl and as a woman. When I was in kindergarten, I noticed that the boys had all the interesting toys and I was stuck with dolls. As a woman, when I was a schoolteacher, I was paid less as the men. When I started having a family, I realized that it was an unequal position and read Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, which was a turning point for me.

As a writer, what artistic values have you applied to activism?

My art is in words and public relations. I’m a very understanding person and I could get people to feel better when they were unhappy at work. My art is words and we opened a book store In 1978, it was a feminist bookstore, Mother Courage. I think it was about as active as anyone could be, putting their money on the line to educate people.

Racine was not necessarily a hotbed for feminism, so we were probably setting some fires under people. As lesbians, we were at the forefront of many public issues and at the time, things were pretty rough, but we survived and did real well. Mother Courage Press took on major issues and we worked on books about controversial issues, like sexual abuse and prevention

Explain how places like Mother Courage help foster communities and activism.

We started a lesbian support group and that was rare. There was a community of us and we met at my home or the bookstore. I would write controversial columns for the newspaper and take on gender issues. I also became an activist with the hospital public relations people through the state of Wisconsin where I educated people on appreciating nurses and helped nurses be more assertive. I stand for people to be active, but now I’m only active as a writer.

Has the community influenced your work?

Definitely. I am so blessed to be here; I grew up in a home on State Street and my parents moved to North Main Street. I could be away from home all day and not be in any trouble. We helped the community because we were the best float builders in Racine for the 4th of July parade. The people in Racine are an integral part of my memoirs. It was a good place for my kids to grow up and I was active in the Montesorri schools. My church was also a very important part of loving and working in Racine.

Has the LGBT community in Racine changed?

Due to our bookstore, we knew more gay people and due to our Unitarian church, we go to know a lot of gay men. We also had a lesbian support group through our bookstore. When I needed support, I’d go to individuals, but the biggest supporter was Tony Larsen (the openly gay pastor of Olympia Brown from 1976-2007), and our church. It was an issue when he became a minister and our congregation accepted him. My church was the strongest supporter of LGBT people until the LGBT center opened. When that opened in 2009, people finally had a place to go. 

Where do you see social movements going in the next few years?

I hope that people allow Biden to take care of poor people, the middle class and immigrants. We are so oriented toward the wealthy and the conservatives are just wanting to control people. I’m a very liberal minded person and it comes from living as a minority person.

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

I have books of what I’ve written so far and they’re memoirs. I’ve never published them except through seven copies I’ve made. It covers Racine history, social issues and relationships. I’m going to try to publish the first book. I’ve been doing that for twenty years and I’m really proud of what Mother Courage, the bookstore and publisher, has done.