Harriet Trudell Papers (MS-00540)

Democratic Party advocate, feminist, and civil rights activist, Harriet Trudell was born in 1932 in St. Petersburg, Florida. She spent her childhood in both St. Petersburg and Mobile, Alabama. Her father was a plumber and a union organizer and in 1948, when Harriet was sixteen years old, she accompanied her father to the Democratic National Convention in Alabama. At this convention, Herbert Humphrey's speech on civil rights opened her eyes to the extensive racism that permeated the South. From this moment on, Trudell devoted her life to social change. She worked with the Florida branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) organizing unions while marching and protesting against injustice. During this period, Trudell was arrested several times. In 1962 she relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and children. Once in Las Vegas, she was an activist for social issues such as welfare rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and the Campaign for Choice. She also worked against nuclear waste and pushed for school integration. In local, state, and national politics, Trudell became an influential voice. She was in charge of the 1968 Presidential campaign of Herbert Humphrey in Nevada and she managed the Southern Nevada campaign for George McGovern. From 1974 to 1978 she was the Southern Nevada aide for Governor Mike O'Callaghan; between 1983 and 1986, she was the Foreign Affairs Aide in Washington D.C. for Congressman Harry Reid. Later, Trudell travelled across the country recruiting women to run for elected office. She has served on the National Board of the National Organization of Women (NOW) and in the 1990s Trudell worked for the Feminist Majority Foundation in Washington D.C. Trudell returned to Las Vegas in 2000 and worked in Democratic politics serving as the Political Director for the Nevada State Democratic Party in Clark County. Trudell passed away December 19, 2019 in Las Vegas, Necada.

Source:

"Woman's Research Institute of Nevada". wrinunlv.org, http://wrinunlv.org/research/our-history-profiles-of-nevada-women/harriet-trudell/. Accessed 6/30/2015