Bettina Aptheker American activist Date of Birth: 13.09.1944 Country: USA

1. Early Life and Education
2. Communist Party Activism
3. Angela Davis Trial
4. Academic Career
5. Family and Personal Life
6. Controversial Memoirs

Early Life and Education

Bettina Aptheker was born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Fay Philippa Aptheker and Herbert Aptheker, Jewish activists who were first cousins. Her mother had been married previously and was a decade older than her husband. Her father was a Marxist historian known for his work challenging the myth of docile enslaved African Americans. Aptheker grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where she was influenced by her parents' activism. As a teenager, she worked at the home of W.E.B. Du Bois, a close friend of her father's. She later earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Communist Party Activism

As a member of the Communist Party USA, Aptheker was involved in the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964. She became a member of the party's National Committee and was praised by Dorothy Healey, a California party leader, as "one of the most brilliant young people to come along in the party in the 1960s and one of the most loving human beings I have ever met."

In 1968, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia divided the CPUSA leadership. Aptheker condemned the invasion and voted with the minority against the party's support for it, opposing her father in the process.

Angela Davis Trial

In the 1970s, Aptheker served as a defense witness in the high-profile trial of Angela Davis, a fellow Communist and friend, who was accused of involvement in George Jackson's escape attempt. She also wrote a book about the trial, which was published in 1974.

Academic Career

After earning a master's degree, Aptheker taught African American and Women's Studies at San Jose State University. In the early 1980s, she earned a Ph.D. in the "History of Consciousness" program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has been on the faculty of the Feminist Studies Department there since 1980.

Family and Personal Life

Aptheker married fellow communist Jack Kurzweil in 1965 and had two children before they divorced in 1978. Since October 1979, Aptheker has been in a partnership with Kate Miller, with whom she has three children.

Controversial Memoirs

In her 2006 memoir, "Intimate Politics," Aptheker wrote about growing up in a leftist household as a "Red Diaper Baby." She discussed the influence of her parents' activism on her and commented on her father's scholarship. She described her father as having a "profound shame" about the Holocaust which fueled his passionate advocacy for racial justice.

Aptheker also revealed that her father sexually abused her from the ages of 3 to 13. In an op-ed piece written after a review of her book, Aptheker said she had previously remained silent to protect her family. The memories began emerging in 1999, after her mother's death and when she began writing the memoir. When her father asked, "Did I ever hurt you during your childhood?," she answered "yes" and explained the emotional impact of his actions. He expressed pain and remorse, and they eventually reconciled. Through counseling, she realized she had suffered from dissociation as a young girl, due to the intense stress in her family during the McCarthy era. Aptheker emphasized her compassion for her father.

Her claim sparked significant controversy in the academic community due to her father's prominence as a scholar and communist. Numerous letters were published in response to the book review in the Chronicle of Higher Education and on George Mason University's History News Network. Some historians questioned how the allegations would affect perceptions of Herbert Aptheker's work. Others questioned Aptheker's credibility, suggesting her account was part of a pattern of "recovered memory" stories.

A review published in November 2007 by historian Christopher Phelps included interviews with Kate Miller, who was present during Aptheker's 1999 confrontation with her father, and corroborated her account.