Biography

The multi-racial and multi-ethnic Women Against Racism Committee (WAR) was formed in Iowa City, Iowa, in the early 1980s. Its membership consisted primarily of women who used the facilities and services provided by the Women's Resource and Action Center (WRAC) at the University of Iowa. The original purpose of the Committee was to critique the racism its members perceived at WRAC. The members also intended to raise their own consciousnesses about the harmful effects of internalized racism.

WAR members were committed to personal and political transformation. Their focus was primarily intellectual; members met to discuss joint readings and work through their own positions on racial issues. In addition to racism, they studied other forms of oppression such as sexism, homophobia, disability-related discrimination, and the challenges facing lesbians of color. WAR also had a public presence through its workshops and annual conferences, which brought speakers such as Winona LaDuke, Gloria Anzaldua, and Nellie Wong to the University of Iowa campus. WAR's most ambitious undertaking was its 1989 national conference, "Parallels and Intersections: Racism and Other Forms of Oppression".” Participation in WAR ebbed in the late 1990s and the committee ceased to function in mid-1998.

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