Marj Jackson Levin
Journalist Marjorie “Marj” Jackson Levin was an important voice for feminism in Detroit, raising awareness of domestic abuse and other women’s issues. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Levin wrote as a freelance journalist and columnist for thirty years for the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press as well as national papers including The Free Press, McCall’s, and Cosmopolitan. She also wrote fiction in her spare time. In 1969 she co-founded the Detroit chapter of the National Organization of Women and served as their vice president for public relations. She staged protests, including walking through the front doors of the Detroit Athletic Club in defiance of their back-door policy. From 1971–1972 she hosted a local television talk show produced by women, A Woman’s Place, discussing feminist issues. Her career as an activist continued until her death: she became the founding president of Michigan Citizens for Handgun Control in 1994, and in 2003 she joined her NOW co-founder Patricia Hill Burnett to create Veteran Feminists of Michigan to fight the setbacks in abortion rights over the decades since Roe v Wade.