Robin Morgan, the poet, essayist, editor and second-wave feminist whose work linked literature, media and protest, died on 5 September 2026 at the age of 85.
Morgan died peacefully in her sleep in a hospital in New York City after living with Parkinson's Disease for 17 years. Her death was announced by her son, the musician Blake Morgan, her sole survivor, and Julie Burton, president and chief executive of the Women's Media Center.
Her death came days after that of her friend and feminist partner Gloria Steinem. Morgan and Steinem were central figures in a movement whose arguments travelled through books, magazines, demonstrations and new media. Morgan's career spanned more than seven decades and brought together work as an organiser, editor and writer.
Born in 1941, Morgan entered public life as a child star in the 1940s and '50s. By the age of 5, she was on the radio with a weekly national programme and was named the “ideal American girl” by the General Federation of Women's Clubs of America.
She later played the youngest daughter on the CBS family show Mama, which aired from 1949 until 1957. The early exposure gave way to a public role of an entirely different kind as she became a leading voice in second-wave feminism.
In 1968, Morgan was among the organisers of the first protest against the Miss America pageant. Protesters tossed bras into a “Freedom Trash Can”, an image that became closely associated with the era's feminist protests.
Two years later, Morgan and fellow protesters were arrested and jailed after occupying the offices of Grove Press in support of employees' efforts to unionise. She also designed the feminist symbol of a raised fist within the Venus symbol.
Morgan's editorial work gave lasting form to many of the movement's debates. She edited Sisterhood Is Powerful in 1970, followed by Sisterhood Is Global in 1984 and Sisterhood Is Forever in 2003. The anthologies placed feminist writing and argument before a broad readership across successive decades.
She was a frequent contributor to Ms. magazine from 1979 and served as its editor-in-chief from 1989 to 1994. Her work there extended the connection between feminist organising and the institutions that publish, commission and circulate ideas.
Morgan published more than 20 books, including eight collections of poetry. Her poetry included Monster, published in 1972, and Harvesting Darkness, published in 2023.
Her nonfiction included The Demon Lover: On the Sexuality of Terrorism, published in 1989, and Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right, published in 2006. She also wrote the memoir Saturday's Child, published in 2000, and the semiautobiographical novel Dry Your Smile, published in 1987.
Twenty-one years ago, Morgan co-founded the Women's Media Center with Steinem and Jane Fonda. The organisation became a further platform for her work on women and media. Morgan also hosted, wrote and produced the award-winning podcast Women's Media Center Live with Robin Morgan, which recently produced its 500th episode.
Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease 17 years ago, Morgan was in her second decade of living with the condition. Her work continued to place writing and public argument at the centre of feminist life, from the protest movements of the late 1960s to the media institutions and broadcasts she helped build in later years.
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