At first, Betty continued to work while raising their first child. She was interested in the connections between labor organizing and communism, the unfair treatment of Jews and African Americans in the workplace, and the unique challenges women faced at work. Betty’s articles covered a range of issues. From then on, she was Betty, not Bettye.Īfter a year of research, Betty moved to New York City to work as a reporter for several labor union publications.

She also decided to drop the second “e” in her name. The following year, Bettye accepted a research fellowship in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1942, she graduated with honors from Smith College. Bettye disagreed and saw these conversations as important to democracy. Many of Bettye’s classmates and teachers worried the paper was too radical. The articles explored America’s role in World War II, the threat of fascism, and the importance of unions. Under Bettye’s leadership, the newspaper took on more political topics. As a senior, she served as the editor of Smith’s student newspaper.

Her mother was a newspaper editor who gave up her career to raise three children and later acknowledged she missed working.īettye studied psychology at Smith College, a prestigious women’s school. Her father was a Russian immigrant who ran his own store. Bettye Goldstein was born on February 4, 1921, in Peoria, Illinois.

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