In the protest-filled 1960s, the emergence of the modern feminist movement initially seemed only a sidelight to the protests against the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. By the summer of 1970, however, it was clear that the growing cry for equal opportunity for women could not be ignored. In no small measure, the movement owed its quickening pulse to Kate Millett, whose recently published doctoral thesis, Sexual Politics, had become a sort of bible for anti-sexism and transformed its author into the "new high priestess" of feminism.

August 26, 1970, was the fiftieth anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the vote. As in many cities across the country, the day was marked in New York by a parade in support of the new feminist agenda. In the photograph here, Millett is seen participating in the march down Fifth Avenue that culminated in a rally in Bryant Park.