Bluestockings (bookstore)
Encyclopedia
Bluestockings is an infoshop
(activist bookstore and café
) in the Lower East Side
of Manhattan
. Collectively run by volunteers and a worker-owner collective, Bluestockings is Manhattan's only women's bookstore. According to its website, the store actively supports "movements that challenge hierarchy and all systems of oppression."
Bluestockings Women's Bookstore was founded by Kathryn Welsh in 1999. Welsh encouraged the formation of a women-powered collective to run the bookstore and welcomed a variety of literary reading series, community organizing events, and open mic performances into the store. The bookstore included a wide selection of social-justice themed books on such topics as race, class, and the environment, in addition to fiction and poetry. The event space was supported by donations, as all events were free to the public, and a cafe serving fair-trade coffee and vegan baked goods. In 2003, Bluestockings was taken over by new management, widening the focus from feminism
to global justice
. It has continued to operate as a worker's collective, a volunteer powered space, and a hub for activist and leftist literary and intellectual gathering.
Another, unaffiliated bookstore store called Bluestocking Books is based in San Diego, California
.
Infoshop
An infoshop is a storefront or social center that serves as a node for the distribution of political information, typically in the form of books, zines, stickers and posters. Infoshops often serve as a meeting space and resource hub for local activist groups....
(activist bookstore and café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
) in the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Collectively run by volunteers and a worker-owner collective, Bluestockings is Manhattan's only women's bookstore. According to its website, the store actively supports "movements that challenge hierarchy and all systems of oppression."
Bluestockings Women's Bookstore was founded by Kathryn Welsh in 1999. Welsh encouraged the formation of a women-powered collective to run the bookstore and welcomed a variety of literary reading series, community organizing events, and open mic performances into the store. The bookstore included a wide selection of social-justice themed books on such topics as race, class, and the environment, in addition to fiction and poetry. The event space was supported by donations, as all events were free to the public, and a cafe serving fair-trade coffee and vegan baked goods. In 2003, Bluestockings was taken over by new management, widening the focus from feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
to global justice
Global justice
Global justice is an issue in political philosophy arising from the concern that the world at large is unjust.-Context:The broader philosophical context of the global justice debate, in both its contemporary and historical forms, is the issue of impartiality...
. It has continued to operate as a worker's collective, a volunteer powered space, and a hub for activist and leftist literary and intellectual gathering.
Another, unaffiliated bookstore store called Bluestocking Books is based in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
.
External links
- Bluestockings - official website
- Merchant of the Month - profile by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum
- Best of NY 2000 - profile by the Village Voice
- McGrath, Kathryn. Pushed to the Margins: The Slow Death and Possible Rebirth of the Feminist Bookstore. From bitchBitch (magazine)bitch, whose tagline is feminist response to pop culture, is an independent, quarterly magazine published in Portland, Oregon with more than 50,000 readers. bitch magazine is one branch of the reader-supported non-profit organization bitch media...
Magazine.