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Title Information: Alternative (displayLabel="Pembroke title")
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Type of Resource: mixed material
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Abstract: In part 1 of this interview, Alison discusses her childhood, her decision to attend Pembroke, and the Pembroke experience. In part 2 she discusses hazing at Pembroke, her summers while at college, working in New York City, her original interest in the State Department, and her time in Ghana. In part 3, Alison talks about her time in the Belgian Congo. In part 4, she discusses her deployment to British Guyana, gender discrimination, and her decision to volunteer for Vietnam. In part 5, she talks about her opposition to some of the tactics used in Vietnam. In part 6, she talks about returning to the US after her service and the decision to enter the Episcopal priesthood. In part 7, Alison discusses simultaneously getting assigned to conferences in Geneva and England by the State Department. In part 8, she talks about her experiences with the priesthood. In part 9, she talks about gender discrimination within the Diocese of Washington, D.C. In part 10, Alison outlines why she chose the Episcopal Church, seeing women in the clergy, clothing in church, and the beginning of the discrimination lawsuit with the State Department. In part 11, she talks about her interactions with Henry Kissinger, who was Secretary of State at the time. In part 12, she goes on to discuss sexual harassment from supervisors in the State Department. In part 13, she discusses policing within the State Department and the Iranian hostage situation. In part 14, she discusses the Bureau of International Organizations and dissent on foreign policy. In part 15, she finishes the narrative on the class action suit filed against the State Department.
Note: biographical/historical (displayLabel="Class year"): 1953
Note: biographical/historical (displayLabel="Biographical note"): Alison Palmer grew up in Wollaston, Massachusetts with her two siblings, David and Lois. The Palmers moved to Long Island in 1940. With some hesitancy, Alison decided to enroll in Pembroke, her mother\u2019s alma mater. After graduating in 1953 with a B.A. in English literature, she went to work at the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times before deciding she wanted to work for the State Department. Alison passed the written Foreign Service exam in June of 1955 but soon after failed the oral exam, something she retroactively cites as one of the early signs of gender discrimination. Sent to the Gold coast with the staff corps, she got promoted every year. She took the tests to become a foreign services officer but her supervisor removed her name from the list. Alison then got assigned to the Belgian Congo, where she remained despite the severe political upheaval. Soon after she went to British Guyana where communism and terrorism reigned. Alison was then assigned to Ethiopia and then volunteered to go to Vietnam and stayed there until the Tet Offensive. She cites her time in Vietnam as the only period in which she did not face gender discrimination from the State Department. Alison\u2019s time in Vietnam was marked by her objections to indiscriminate bombing, the Mai Lai Massacre, and a nomination for the Superior Honor Award. Alison returned from Vietnam with negative feelings about her experience there. No one wanted to talk about it. She turned to priesthood in the Episcopal Church in 1970 and became the first female deacon in the Diocese of Washington, D.C. The State Department then assigned her to conferences in England and Geneva several times a year. She worked with other female-led Dioceses to minimize gender discrimination. Alison filed an official complaint for gender discrimination at the State Department in 1968 and 1971, producing the first Equal Employment Opportunity hearing at the State Department. The State Department was found guilty of strong discrimination and Palmer exposed them publicly, on talk shows around the country. She started a class action lawsuit in 1976 and got 75 women appointed to the State Department who were turned away beforehand due to sexist policies. Alison then worked on diffusing the Iranian hostage situation and changing the State Department\u2019s policies on hostages. She worked in the Bureau of African Affairs and saw the State Department setting up a Women\u2019s Action Organization.
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Genre (aat) (authorityURI="http://vocab.getty.edy/aat/", valueURI="http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300202595"): oral histories (literary works)