Catherine Shipe East
American government researcher and feminist
Catherine Shipe East (May 15, 1916 – August 17, 1996) was a U.S. government researcher and feminist referred to as "the midwife to the women's movement". She was a powerful force behind the founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and held several influential federal government positions throughout her career.
Early life
Catherine Shipe East was born on May 15, 1916, in Barboursville, West Virginia to Bertha Woody and Ulysses Grant Shipe. She was the oldest of three children. Her mother suffered a nervous breakdown when Catherine was eleven years old, and four years later her father committed suicide. Considering teaching her only option at the time, she entered teaching school at Marshall College, but had to withdraw due to financial difficulties' eleven credit short of getting her bachelor's degree.
She married Charles East in 1937, whom she subsequently divorced; they had two daughters. In 1939 took a position with the U.S Civil Service Commission as a clerk. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1943.
Role in Government
Catherine Shipe East began her career as a junior civil service examiner with the U.S Civil Service Commission in 1939.
“Catherine Shipe East” enters the record as american government researcher and feminist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Catherine, Shipe and East can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5052921. VIAF identifies the subject as 2213923. The Library of Congress control number is no2006016093. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 1996, 1937 and 1939.
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This entry incorporates text from “Catherine Shipe East” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.