Martha Wheelock is a longtime educator and a filmmaker. She has been involved with the women's movement as far back as 1970.[1] Her political work was documented in a 2017 interview with Veteran Feminists of America.[2]
Wheelock is notable for her films[3] featuring lesser known women in history. She founded Wild West Women Films in 1976.[2] She co-founded this organization with Kay Weaver.[4] Together they made the widely regarded short film One Fine Day[5] about the history of the women's movement. This film has been widely used in schools and in library archives to promote women's history.[6][7][8]
In 1996 she made a film about the suffrage movement titled Votes for Women which marked the 75th anniversary[9] of the 19th Amendment.[10] Wheelock wrote, directed and produced a film on suffragist Inez Milholland titled Forward Into Light.[11]
LGBT activism
Wheelock marched in Christopher street protests in the 1970s.[12] In 1974 she was photographed holding up a sign at a protest that stated "Mother Nature is a Lesbian."[2]
Wheelock has long been a leader of the organization National Women's History Alliance, the organization that created Women's History Month.[13] In 2020, she served as a lead on the creation of the Suffrage Centennial Float in the 2020 Rose Parade.[13][14] In 2024 and 2025 Wheelock served as president of the board of the National Women's History Alliance.[15]
Justice Bell Foundation
Wheelock has also served on the board of the Justice Bell Foundation.[16]
Teaching career
Wheelock taught a variety of courses for over forty years including English, women's studies, ethics and theatre.[15] Wheelock taught English, ethnic studies and theatre in New York schools for 18 years.[17] In 2011 she served as the Humanities department chair at Harvard-Westlake.[18]
Education
Wheelock graduated from Miss Hall's school in 1959[19] and studied in a doctoral program for English at New York University.[1] It was during her time studying there that she realized she wanted to be a filmmaker.[12]
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