{{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Martha Wheelock | alma_mater = Earlham College | occupation = Filmmaker, Educator | known_for = Feminist films | notable_works = Forward Into Light, Votes for Women | movement = Women's movement | website = {{URL|https://wildwestwomen.org}} | father = Frederic M. Wheelock<ref name="Former">{{cite news |title=Former I. E. Young Teacher to Wed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-standard-star-martha-wheelock/198451029/ |work=The Standard-Star |date=June 9, 1967 |location=New Rochelle, NY |page=27 |access-date=May 28, 2026 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> }} '''Martha Wheelock''' is a longtime educator and a filmmaker. She has been involved with the women's movement as far back as 1970.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |title=Interview with Martha Wheelock |url=https://veteranfeministsofamerica.org/interview-martha-wheelock/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Veteran Feminists of America |language=en}}</ref> Her political work was documented in a 2017 interview with Veteran Feminists of America.<ref name=":1" />
== Film career ==
Wheelock is notable for her films<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sandomir |first=Richard |date=2024-11-06 |title=Virginia Carter, a Feminist Adviser to Norman Lear, Dies at 87 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/arts/television/virginia-carter-dead.html |access-date=2025-03-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> featuring lesser known women in history. She founded Wild West Women Films in 1976.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=admin |title=VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT: MARTHA WHEELOCK |url=https://veteranfeministsofamerica.org/vfa-pioneer-histories-project-martha-wheelock/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Veteran Feminists of America |language=en}}</ref> She co-founded this organization with Kay Weaver.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ptommey |title=About Us |url=https://wildwestwomen.org/about-us/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Wild West Women, Inc. |language=en-US}}</ref> Together they made the widely regarded short film One Fine Day<ref>{{Citation |last=Weaver |first=Kay |title=One Fine Day |date=1984-01-01 |type=Short, Music |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4254710/ |access-date=2025-09-07 |others=Kay Weaver |publisher=Ishtar Films |last2=Wheelock |first2=Martha}}</ref> about the history of the women's movement. This film has been widely used in schools and in library archives to promote women's history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WHM - About Women's History Month {{!}} Events |url=https://events.santarosa.edu/whm-about-womens-history-month |access-date=2025-09-07 |website=events.santarosa.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Women's Studies Library of Films |url=https://www.iup.edu/womens/resources/films/index.html |access-date=2025-09-07 |website=Indiana University of Pennsylvania |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Women’s Equality Day 2025 – Oregon NOW |url=https://noworegon.org/womens-equality-day-2025/ |access-date=2025-09-07 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1996 she made a film about the suffrage movement titled Votes for Women which marked the 75th anniversary<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inez Milholland - Forward Into Light & Into Light Special Preview Screening and Panel Discussion |url=https://www.womenshistory.org/light |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=National Women's History Museum |language=en}}</ref> of the 19th Amendment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Votes for Women, by Kay Weaver and Martha Wheelock. - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/94c1aba8ea5801b0a9edadb4aa20cc49/1?cbl=29874&pq-origsite=gscholar |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=www.proquest.com |language=en}}</ref> Wheelock wrote, directed and produced a film on suffragist Inez Milholland titled Forward Into Light.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Martha Wheelock – Inez Milholland ~ Forward Into Light |url=https://inezmilholland.org/category/martha-wheelock/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |language=en-US}}</ref>
== LGBT activism == Wheelock marched in Christopher street protests in the 1970s.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=September 15, 2023 |title=Martha Wheelock Oral History Interview (Part 2) |url=https://digitalcollections.archives.csudh.edu/digital/collection/be_collection/id/188/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=digitalcollections.archives.csudh.edu |language=en}}</ref> In 1974 she was photographed holding up a sign at a protest that stated "Mother Nature is a Lesbian."<ref name=":1" />
== Board leadership == [[File:National Women's History Alliance Suffrage Float.png|thumb|The 2020 Suffrage Centennial Float featuring the logo of the National Women's History Alliance]]
=== National Women's History Alliance === Wheelock has long been a leader of the organization National Women's History Alliance, the organization that created Women's History Month.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Inez Milholland - Forward Into Light & Into Light Special Preview Screening and Panel Discussion |url=https://www.womenshistory.org/light |access-date=2025-09-07 |website=National Women's History Museum |language=en}}</ref> In 2020, she served as a lead on the creation of the Suffrage Centennial Float in the 2020 Rose Parade.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chang |first=Jonathan |date=2019-11-11 |title=We Heart: The Rose Parade Float Celebrating the 2020 Suffrage Centennial |url=https://msmagazine.com/2019/11/11/we-heart-the-rose-parade-float-celebrating-the-2020-suffrage-centennial/ |access-date=2025-09-07 |website=Ms. Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2024 and 2025 Wheelock served as president of the board of the National Women's History Alliance.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=NWHA leadership |url=https://nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/nwha-leadership/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=National Women's History Alliance |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Justice Bell Foundation === Wheelock has also served on the board of the Justice Bell Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Justice Bell Foundation Board |url=https://www.justicebell.org/justice-bell-foundation-board |access-date=2025-09-07 |website=justicebell |language=en}}</ref>
== Teaching career == Wheelock taught a variety of courses for over forty years including English, women's studies, ethics and theatre.<ref name=":3" /> Wheelock taught English, ethnic studies and theatre in New York schools for 18 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Martha Wheelock – Inez Milholland ~ Forward Into Light |url=https://inezmilholland.org/category/martha-wheelock/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2011 she served as the Humanities department chair at Harvard-Westlake.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wheelock to discuss feminist movement |url=https://hwchronicle.com/8523/news/wheelock-to-discuss-feminist-movement/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle}}</ref>
== Education == Wheelock graduated from Miss Hall's school in 1959<ref name="Former"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Reunion 2024 {{!}} Miss Hall's School |url=https://www.misshalls.org/zh-hans/stories/reunion-2024/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=www.misshalls.org |language=zh-Hans}}</ref> and studied in a doctoral program for English at New York University.<ref name="Former"/><ref name=":0" /> It was during her time studying there that she realized she wanted to be a filmmaker.<ref name=":2" />
== See also ==
* Molly Murphy Macgregor * National Women's History Alliance * Zoe Nicholson<ref>{{Cite web |last=ptommey |title=ERA ~ The Big Picture |url=https://wildwestwomen.org/our-projects/era-the-big-picture/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Wild West Women, Inc. |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links== *{{IMDb name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheelock, Martha}} Category:American feminists Category:American women film directors Category:Second wave feminists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American documentary film directors