Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson
Encyclopedia
Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson (born in 1945), known as Cathy Wilkerson, is an American
radical
who was a member of the 1970s radical group called the Weather Underground
(WUO). She came to the attention of the police when she was leaving the townhouse belonging to her father after it was destroyed by an explosion on March 6, 1970. Members of WUO had been constructing a nail bomb
in the basement of the building, intended to be used in an attack on a non-commissioned officer
s dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey
that night. Wilkerson, already free on bail for her involvement in the Chicago "Days of Rage
" riots, avoided capture for 10 years. She surrendered in 1980 and pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of dynamite. She was sentenced to up to three years in prison, serving 11 months.
executive and part owner of a radio station in Omaha, Nebraska
. and a radio station owner from the Midwest. Her mother, Audrey Olena, graduated from Smith College
and later took job as a teacher in Manhattan
. Wilkerson grew up in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In Stamford, Connecticut
she attended Martha Hoyt School through 3rd grade, Emma Willard Middle School (5th grade), and New Canaan Country School
(6th through 9th grade). In Andover, Massachusetts
Wilkerson attended Abbot Academy, an all-girls school. She graduated from Abbot Academy in June 1962.
. During the first year of college she became interested in politics. In April, 1962 Wilkerson became involved with a civil rights group that organized anti-segregation work in Cambridge, Maryland
. Her activist work continued throughout college. In June, 1963 Wilkerson attended Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS) National Meeting in Pine Hill, New York
, and wrote a pamphlet "Rats, Washtubs, and Block Organizations". She graduated in June 1966 and spent summer and fall working for Representative Robert Kastenmeier
, a liberal Democrat from Wisconsin
. In 1967, Wilkerson was employed in the national office of SDS, in Chicago, Illinois and became the editor of New Left Notes, an SDS newspaper. In 1967, she was elected into SDS National Interim Council and moved to Washington, DC to set up a regional office. Wilkerson and three other SDS members went to Cambodia
where they met representatives of Vietnamese National Liberation Front. After the trip she wrote several articles describing her experiences and stressing issue of failing morale of U.S. troops. Although, as Wilkerson recalls in her memoir, she had few disagreements with the main ideas promoted by Weatherman, including their deep desire to be involved in the most effective endeavor to end the Vietnam War
. Her perception that policies both at home and abroad were unfair prompted her to become a member of Weatherman in 1969. Shortly after her graduation from college, Wilkerson traveled to Cuba
to witness the results of the Cuban Revolution
first hand. She was also very active in civil rights and the women’s movement. http://www.powers.com/bibliography
for distributing handbills advertising a mass meeting to discuss the planned boycott of the public schools. On August 25, 1968 she was arrested during the Democratic National Convention and charged with disorderly conduct and posting handbills on private property without permission of the owners. On May 2, 1969 Wilkerson was arrested and charged with unlawful entry and destroying property during takeover of Maury Hall at George Washington University
, Washington DC. On September 4, 1969 she was arrested in Chicago on charges of disorderly conduct. On September 4, 1969 Wilkerson was arrested in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
with 25 other female members of SDS, who were trying to recruit students to the anti-war movement by staging a high school "jailbreak"
. She was charged with inciting a riot, rioting, and disorderly conduct. On October 9, 1969 Wilkerson was arrested and charged with mob action, aggravated battery and resisting arrest.
that took place in Chicago on October, 1969 and was arrested for attacking a Chicago policeman with a club. After spending two and half weeks in jail she was released on bail. Wilkerson attended the WUO "War Council" in Flint, Michigan
during December 1969. In January 1970 she was sent to Seattle, Washington
to join a local collective. After a few days in Seattle Wilkerson was invited by Terry Robbins
to come to New York, New York. After firebombing the home of New York State Supreme Court Justice Murtagh, who was presiding over the trial of the so-called "Panther 21" members of the Black Panther Party
and few other unsuccessful fire bombings, the New York collective members decided to use dynamite in future actions. The bomb factory was set up in a townhouse owned by Wilkerson's father.
owned by Wilkerson’s father, located at 18 West 11th Street in Greenwich Village
. The blast killed three people, but Wilkerson and Kathy Boudin
were helped from the rubble and they immediately went underground. The townhouse was being used by the Weather Underground
to make bombs, in particular a nail bomb
that was to be used against soldiers and their dates at a non-commissioned officer
's dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey
that night. That evening, a man's body was found in the basement of the townhouse, and a short time later, a woman's torso was discovered on the first floor. Police also found several handbags with personal identifications that had been stolen from college students over the previous few months. Over the next few days, police discovered at least 60 sticks of dynamite, a live military antitank shell, blasting caps and several large metal pipes packed solid with explosives and nails as shrapnel.
Three members of the WUO were killed in the explosion, Theodore Gold, the 23 year old leader of a student strike at Columbia University
in 1968; Diana Oughton
; and Terry Robbins. Wilkerson and Boudin stayed overnight at Boudin's parents' house a few blocks away on St. Luke's Place before they both went underground.http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040105/brightman Her father, who owned both houses, was on vacation in the Caribbean. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9905E5DB163BF930A15754C0A967948260 She was charged, in absentia with illegal possession of dynamite and criminally negligent homicide and eluded capture for 10 years.
She criticized the 2001 memoir of Bill Ayers
, Fugitive Days: A Memoir, her former Weather Underground colleague, in ZNet, describing his memoir as, "a cynical, superficial romp . . . making these struggles seem like a glorious carnival . . . Ayers relates his relentless sexual encounters without the slightest trace of awareness that some of these encounters might not have been so positive for the woman."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radical
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
who was a member of the 1970s radical group called the Weather Underground
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
(WUO). She came to the attention of the police when she was leaving the townhouse belonging to her father after it was destroyed by an explosion on March 6, 1970. Members of WUO had been constructing a nail bomb
Nail bomb
The nail bomb is an anti-personnel explosive device packed with nails to increase its wounding ability. The nails act as shrapnel, leading almost certainly to greater loss of life and injury in inhabited areas than the explosives alone would. The nail bomb is also a type of flechette weapon...
in the basement of the building, intended to be used in an attack on a non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
that night. Wilkerson, already free on bail for her involvement in the Chicago "Days of Rage
Days of Rage
The Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of direct actions taken over a course of three days in October 1969 in Chicago organized by the Weatherman faction of the Students for a Democratic Society...
" riots, avoided capture for 10 years. She surrendered in 1980 and pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of dynamite. She was sentenced to up to three years in prison, serving 11 months.
Early years
Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson was born on January 14, 1945. Her father, James Platt Wilkerson was an advertisingAdvertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
executive and part owner of a radio station in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
. and a radio station owner from the Midwest. Her mother, Audrey Olena, graduated from Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
and later took job as a teacher in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Wilkerson grew up in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
she attended Martha Hoyt School through 3rd grade, Emma Willard Middle School (5th grade), and New Canaan Country School
New Canaan Country School
New Canaan Country School is private day school, offers grades Pre-Kindergarten-9, located on a campus in New Canaan, Connecticut. The current headmaster is Timothy Bazemore, who joined the school in 2000....
(6th through 9th grade). In Andover, Massachusetts
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...
Wilkerson attended Abbot Academy, an all-girls school. She graduated from Abbot Academy in June 1962.
Early Activist Work
After graduating from high school, Wilkerson was accepted into Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
. During the first year of college she became interested in politics. In April, 1962 Wilkerson became involved with a civil rights group that organized anti-segregation work in Cambridge, Maryland
Cambridge, Maryland
Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 12,326 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county's largest municipality...
. Her activist work continued throughout college. In June, 1963 Wilkerson attended Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
(SDS) National Meeting in Pine Hill, New York
Pine Hill, New York
Pine Hill is a hamlet in the western part of the town of Shandaken in Ulster County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 308.- History :...
, and wrote a pamphlet "Rats, Washtubs, and Block Organizations". She graduated in June 1966 and spent summer and fall working for Representative Robert Kastenmeier
Robert Kastenmeier
Robert William Kastenmeier is a United States politician. He represented Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1991, and is a member of the Democratic Party.-Education:...
, a liberal Democrat from Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. In 1967, Wilkerson was employed in the national office of SDS, in Chicago, Illinois and became the editor of New Left Notes, an SDS newspaper. In 1967, she was elected into SDS National Interim Council and moved to Washington, DC to set up a regional office. Wilkerson and three other SDS members went to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
where they met representatives of Vietnamese National Liberation Front. After the trip she wrote several articles describing her experiences and stressing issue of failing morale of U.S. troops. Although, as Wilkerson recalls in her memoir, she had few disagreements with the main ideas promoted by Weatherman, including their deep desire to be involved in the most effective endeavor to end the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Her perception that policies both at home and abroad were unfair prompted her to become a member of Weatherman in 1969. Shortly after her graduation from college, Wilkerson traveled to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
to witness the results of the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
first hand. She was also very active in civil rights and the women’s movement. http://www.powers.com/bibliography
Arrests
In 1963, Wilkerson was arrested in Chester, PennsylvaniaChester, Pennsylvania
Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.- History :...
for distributing handbills advertising a mass meeting to discuss the planned boycott of the public schools. On August 25, 1968 she was arrested during the Democratic National Convention and charged with disorderly conduct and posting handbills on private property without permission of the owners. On May 2, 1969 Wilkerson was arrested and charged with unlawful entry and destroying property during takeover of Maury Hall at George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
, Washington DC. On September 4, 1969 she was arrested in Chicago on charges of disorderly conduct. On September 4, 1969 Wilkerson was arrested in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
with 25 other female members of SDS, who were trying to recruit students to the anti-war movement by staging a high school "jailbreak"
Weather High School Jailbreaks
Jailbreaks were demonstrations staged by members of Weatherman during the summer and fall of 1969 in an effort to recruit high school and community college students to join their movement against the United States government and its policies.-Purpose:...
. She was charged with inciting a riot, rioting, and disorderly conduct. On October 9, 1969 Wilkerson was arrested and charged with mob action, aggravated battery and resisting arrest.
Joining Weathermen
Wilkerson joined the Chicago Weatherman Collective during the summer of 1969. She actively participated in riots during the Days of RageDays of Rage
The Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of direct actions taken over a course of three days in October 1969 in Chicago organized by the Weatherman faction of the Students for a Democratic Society...
that took place in Chicago on October, 1969 and was arrested for attacking a Chicago policeman with a club. After spending two and half weeks in jail she was released on bail. Wilkerson attended the WUO "War Council" in Flint, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
during December 1969. In January 1970 she was sent to Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
to join a local collective. After a few days in Seattle Wilkerson was invited by Terry Robbins
Terry Robbins
Terry Robbins was a U.S. leftist radical activist. A key member of the Students for a Democratic Society Ohio chapter, he led Kent State into its first militant student uprising in 1968. Robbins was credited for drawing inspiration from Bob Dylan’s song Subterranean Homesick Blues which later...
to come to New York, New York. After firebombing the home of New York State Supreme Court Justice Murtagh, who was presiding over the trial of the so-called "Panther 21" members of the Black Panther Party
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
and few other unsuccessful fire bombings, the New York collective members decided to use dynamite in future actions. The bomb factory was set up in a townhouse owned by Wilkerson's father.
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
On the morning of March 6, 1970, there was an explosion in the sub-basement of a townhouseGreenwich Village townhouse explosion
The Greenwich Village townhouse explosion was the premature detonation of a bomb as it was being assembled by members of the American radical left group, Weatherman – later renamed the Weather Underground – in the basement of a townhouse at 18 West 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and...
owned by Wilkerson’s father, located at 18 West 11th Street in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. The blast killed three people, but Wilkerson and Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin is a former American radical who was convicted in 1984 of felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery that resulted in the killing of three people. She later became a public health expert while in prison...
were helped from the rubble and they immediately went underground. The townhouse was being used by the Weather Underground
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
to make bombs, in particular a nail bomb
Nail bomb
The nail bomb is an anti-personnel explosive device packed with nails to increase its wounding ability. The nails act as shrapnel, leading almost certainly to greater loss of life and injury in inhabited areas than the explosives alone would. The nail bomb is also a type of flechette weapon...
that was to be used against soldiers and their dates at a non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
's dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey
Fort Dix, New Jersey
JB MDL Dix , better known as Fort Dix, is a United States Army base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Dix is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Reserve Command...
that night. That evening, a man's body was found in the basement of the townhouse, and a short time later, a woman's torso was discovered on the first floor. Police also found several handbags with personal identifications that had been stolen from college students over the previous few months. Over the next few days, police discovered at least 60 sticks of dynamite, a live military antitank shell, blasting caps and several large metal pipes packed solid with explosives and nails as shrapnel.
Three members of the WUO were killed in the explosion, Theodore Gold, the 23 year old leader of a student strike at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1968; Diana Oughton
Diana Oughton
Diana Oughton was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society Michigan Chapter and later, a member of the 1960s radical group Weatherman. Oughton received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. After graduation, Oughton went to Guatemala with the VISA program to teach the young and older...
; and Terry Robbins. Wilkerson and Boudin stayed overnight at Boudin's parents' house a few blocks away on St. Luke's Place before they both went underground.http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040105/brightman Her father, who owned both houses, was on vacation in the Caribbean. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9905E5DB163BF930A15754C0A967948260 She was charged, in absentia with illegal possession of dynamite and criminally negligent homicide and eluded capture for 10 years.
Surrender
On June 23, 1970 Wilkerson and twelve other members of Weather Underground Organization were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to bomb and kill. Placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, some avoided capture for as long as ten years. On March 25, 1977 Phoebe Hirsch and Robert Roth became the first two WUO members to surrender. Wilkerson stayed underground for three more years. She surrendered in 1980, was tried and convicted of illegal possession of dynamite and sentenced to three years in prison. She was released on a sentencing technicality after serving 11 months, with the judge noting that "her conduct while in jail has been exemplary." New York State's Commissioner of Correctional Services was critical of the early release, calling the judge's action "mistaken". He maintained that many inmates with better disciplinary records remained behind bars because they didn't have good lawyers and were black or Hispanic.Later years
Today, Wilkerson lives in Brooklyn, and is the mother of an adult daughter. Wilkerson spent the last 20 years teaching mathematics in high schools and adult education programs. In August 2003, she gave the first telephone interview after not talking to reporters in about twenty years. Although Wilkerson agreed that mistakes were made, she maintained many of the ideas that she supported in the 1960s. Wilkerson wrote a book about her experience in the Weather Underground, Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times As a Weatherman http://www.amazon.com/dp/1583227717(Seven Stories Press)http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100772970, which was published in September 2010.She criticized the 2001 memoir of Bill Ayers
Bill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
, Fugitive Days: A Memoir, her former Weather Underground colleague, in ZNet, describing his memoir as, "a cynical, superficial romp . . . making these struggles seem like a glorious carnival . . . Ayers relates his relentless sexual encounters without the slightest trace of awareness that some of these encounters might not have been so positive for the woman."