A major theme in “Mrs. America” is the divide between white and black feminists in the 1970s and the role of race in the battle over the ERA. Before she began her research, Waller knew little about Florynce Kennedy, a lawyer and activist played in the series by Niecy Nash. “After reading this book, I think it’s a gross failure” that Kennedy isn’t more widely recognized, she says. “This is a great biography that really places her at the beginning of intersectional feminism, as one of the first women to speak about the intersection of sexism and racism and the connections between Black Power and the feminist movement.”
