Welcome to Litsy!

Lifelong activist Judy Gumbo, an original member of the Yippies (Youth International Party), a 1960s counter culture and satirical anti-war group, offers an insider feminist memoir of her involvment with the Yippies, Black Panthers, Chicago Eight Conspiracy Trial defendants, and her fight against secret FBI surveillance of her day-to-day activities. In this positive story of a young woman's self-actualization and constructive radicalism mixed with humor, author Judy Gumbo offers the first insider's feminist perspective of life as a member of the Yippies. In 1967, Gumbo arrived in Berkeley and immediately became involved with the activist community. In the Spring of 1968, she joined the Yippies as one of its few female members, and--at the raucous Chicago Democratic National Convention--helped with their efforts to run a pig named Pigasus for President. She continued her activism, helping stage Berkeley's People's Park protests, advocating for women's rights through W.I.T.C.H. (Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell), a Yippie guerilla theater feminist group, and becoming involved with the Black Panthers. Gumbo's activism was so extensive, that by 1972, the FBI described her as "the most vicious, the most anti-American, the most anti-establishment, and the most dangerous to the internal security of the United States." In 1975, she discovered that the FBI had placed a tracking device on her car. Her home was broken into and a listening device was installed. As a result, she was part of a lawsuit that successfully challenged warrantless wiretapping. Yet through it all, Gumbo maintains her commitment to radicalism mixed with humor. She details her life as a protester to show that, while circumstances always change, protesters can stay loyal to the causes they believe in and remain true to themselves. At the same time, she reveals how dogmatism, authoritarianism, and interpersonal conflict can damage those same just causes. Ultimately, Yippie Girl serves as a strategic guide for activists on having fun with politics while experiencing the joy of protesting against injustice in all its forms.