Events › Speaking Of...The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Feminist Fairy Tale?

Since the 1900 publication of the popular children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, people have sought deeper meaning in L. Frank Baum’s text. Additional texts and films, the most popular being the prequel Wicked, have kept the story alive for generations.

Baum was the son-in-law of Matilda Joslyn Gage, the most radical women’s rights activist of the time. Baum adored his wife and greatly admired his mother-in-law’s intellect. How much influence did Gage's radical feminist beliefs have on Baum's story?

Join us as Chabot College’s U.S. Women’s History Professor Emerita Jane Wolford examines the feminist undertones of this beloved fairy tale.

This is the first event in a new series called "Speaking Of..."

About the Presenter:

Jane Wolford is a Professor Emerita of U. S. Women’s History. She retired in 2023 after teaching more than forty years at Chabot College in Hayward. She gave this lecture as part of a Women’s History Month lecture series in 2015. Professor Wolford has lived in Castro Valley with her family since 1979.

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