Foundation
Free Men, Inc. was founded in Columbia, MD in January 1977. The name "Free Men" was used as an imperative (as in Free Men from unfair divorce laws). By-laws were formally adopted in July. The four founding members were: Richard Haddad, Dennis Gilbert, Allan Scheib and Allen Foreman. Richard Haddad authored the "Free Men Philosophy" which included 26 items from which he felt men should be freed. These represented options. The first newsletter was named "Options".
This early chapter concentrated on forming "support groups" for men as counterparts to "consciousness raising groups" tailored to women.
Initial national interest resulted from appearances by author Herb Goldberg, author of the Hazards of Being Male. By 1980 the Free Men. Inc. organization in Columbia had begun to disintegrate. Nevertheless, undaunted by local circumstance in Columbia, others in different parts of the country began forming groups associated with the Maryland organization. Two new groups formed chapters in Boston, Massachusetts (Headed by Frederic Hayward, founder of Men's Rights, Inc. A strong supporter was Robert A. Sides who went on to represent NCFM on national TV/radio talk shows) and Nassau County, New York. The strongest of the two was in Nassau County. As a result it received all of Free Men, Inc.'s records as it became clear that the Maryland group was going to fold.
Read more about this topic: National Coalition For Men
Famous quotes containing the word foundation:
“I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“In a country where misery and want were the foundation of the social structure, famine was periodic, death from starvation common, disease pervasive, thievery normal, and graft and corruption taken for granted, the elimination of these conditions in Communist China is so striking that negative aspects of the new rule fade in relative importance.”
—Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989)
“But in every constitution some large degree of animal vigor is necessary as material foundation for the higher qualities of the art.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)