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Betsy Leondar-Wright
Leondar-Wright at Black Oak Books, Berkeley
Born	Betsy Wright (1956-01-15) January 15, 1956 (age 68) Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	author, activist
Nationality	American
Education	Princeton University
Alma mater	Boston College
Subject	Classism, Economic stratification, economic justice
Notable awards	Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award
Spouse	Gail Leondar-Wright
Website
www.classmatters.org

Betsy Leondar-Wright (born January 15, 1956) is an American economic justice activist, sociologist, and author, who writes on class and economic inequality.

Early life and education

Leondar-Wright was raised in a middle-class family, and dropped out of Princeton University to become a full-time activist. She completed her Bachelor of Arts, MA and PhD in Sociology at Boston College.

Activism

She was a member of Movement for a New Society (MNS), where she was a member of the Keystone Alliance, organizing rallies and occupations at the Limerick, PA Nuclear Power Plant. While involved with MNS, she published the "Study Guide on Multinational Corporations and the World Economy".

From 1986 to 1988 she was Program Coordinator at Women for Economic Justice, where she organized a coalition for pay equity for women. From 1988 to 1993 she was Executive Director at the Anti-Displacement Project, an affordable housing organization; three of the tenant groups she organized bought and now manage their apartment complexes as permanently affordable housing. From 1994 to 1997 she served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Human Services Coalition.

From 1997 to 2006 she was Communications Director for United for a Fair Economy, where she co-authored The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide.

She served on the board of Class Action, a non-profit that raised consciousness about class, race/class intersections and classism. As Program Director from 2010 to 2015, she edited the blog "Classism Exposed".

Current work

From 2015 to 2024 she was an assistant professor of sociology at Lasell College. Her 2012 PhD dissertation focuses on class culture differences in U.S. social change groups. Her book, Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures was published by Cornell University Press in April 2014 and was made into a website, the Activist Class Cultures Kit. Her most recent book is Is It Racist? Is It Sexist? Why Red and Blue White People Disagree, and How to Decide in the Gray Areas which was co-authored with Jessi Streib.

Personal life

She and her spouse, progressive book publicist Gail Leondar-Wright, are one of the first lesbian couples to be legally married in the United States.

Publishing history

See also

• Classism
• Ford Hall Forum
• Wealth in the United States
• LGBT

References

1. ^ "The Color of Wealth - United for a Fair Economy". The New Press. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
2. "Focus on Affirmative Action - Today's Guests are: Betsy Leondar-Wright". African American Policy Forum. Archived from the original on 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
3. ^ "Betsy Leondar Wright, Ph.D. Student". Boston College Sociology Department. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
4. Leondar-Wright, Betsy (2005). "Class Matters: Cross Class Alliance-Building or Middle Class Activists". New Society Publishers. ISBN 9780865715233. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
5. Caldwell, Tracey-Kay. "Class Matters". BellaOnline - the Voice of women. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
6. Davidon, Ann Morrissett (December 1979). "The U.S. anti-nuclear movement". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
7. "Movement for a New Society Records, 1971-1988". Swarthmore College. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
8. ^ Wright, Betsy; Phyllis Fisher; Merrill Kaitz; Jane Collins (September 1996). Mass Billions: The Changing Role of Federal Support for Human Services in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Human Services Coalition. ISBN 978-0-9655371-0-0.
9. "Betsy Leondar-Wright". Class Matters. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
10. "Classism Exposed Blog". Class Matters. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
11. "Betsy Leondar-Wright, Ph.D." www.lasell.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
12. Is It Racist? Is It Sexist?. Stanford University Press. 2025. ISBN 978-1-5036-3791-7. Archived from the original on 2024-10-04.
13. Lombardi, Kristen (May 2004). "Familiar Ring". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
14. Leondar-Wright, Betsy (March 1999). Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap. United for a Fair Economy. ISBN 978-0-9659249-2-4.
15. Leondar-Wright, Betsy (2007). Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice. 2nd Ed. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-95200-2.
16. Leondar-Wright, Betsy (May 4, 2004). "Climbing the White Escalator". CommonDreams.org. Archived from the original on September 25, 2011. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
17. The Wealth Inequality Reader in Dollars and Sense. September 2004. ISBN 978-1-878585-45-5.
18. Leondar-Wright, Betsy (April 2005). Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle-Class Activists. New Society Publishers. ISBN 0-86571-523-8.
19. The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide. The New Press. June 2006. ISBN 1-59558-004-2.

External links

• Official website
• Interview with Z Magazine
• As forum speaker
• Interview on Progressive Radio
• Interview (with Gail Leondar-Wright) on Rag Radio with Thorne Dreyer (53:07)
• consulting gail leondar public relations

• Living people
• American women's rights activists
• American LGBTQ rights activists
• American sociologists
• American women sociologists
• American non-fiction writers
• American community activists
• American anti-racism activists
• 1956 births
• 21st-century American women