Marianne Walters papers

Marianne Walters was born in Washington, DC in 1930. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and received her bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1952 and her MSW from the University of Illinois in 1954. Her marriage to Joseph Hart Walters ended in divorce; the couple had three daughters: Lisa, Suzanna, and Pamela. Throughout the 1960s, Walters was involved in civil rights marches, war protests, abortion rights sit-ins and gay rights demonstrations. She also worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the 1968 Poor People's March on Washington, helping organize Resurrection City, a tent city on the Washington Mall. From 1963 to 1966, Walters was chief social worker for a pilot project sponsored by the Center for Youth and Community Studies at Howard University, and from 1966 to 1980 she was a family therapist in Philadelphia. From 1975 to 1980, she served as executive director of the Family Therapy Training Center at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, where she was known for her work with single-parent, low-income families.

In 1978, Walters founded the Women's Project in Family Therapy and, after returning to her home town of Washington, DC, founded the Family Therapy Practice Center there in 1980. It was one of the first family clinics in the country to be run by a woman. The Center trains therapists and counselors, administers research projects, and works with area family service agencies such as a local shelter for abused and runaway youth. The Center also provides family therapy services to underserved populations in the area. Walters was the author of numerous articles and monographs, and the editor of several books. She was co-author, along with colleagues at the Women's Project, of The Invisible Web : Gender Patterns in Family Relationships (1988). Marianne Walters died on February 21, 2006.