Maggie Kuhn

Maggie Kuhn (August 3, 1905 - April 22, 1995) was born in Buffalo, New York. She was a lifelong American activist. She is most famous for founding the Gray Panthers movement in 1971 after being forced into retirement by the Presbyterian Church. The Gray Panthers became known for advocating nursing home reform and fighting ageism, claiming that "old people constitute America's biggest untapped and undervalued human energy source." She also dedicated her life to fighting for human rights, social and ecomonic justice, global peace, integration, and an understanding of mental health issues. She wrote her autobiography, No Stone Unturned, in 1991. Four years later, she died of cardiopulmonary arrest in Philadelphia at the age of 89.

7 Quotes

Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week.
— Maggie Kuhn

Old age is not a disease -- it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses.
— Maggie Kuhn

There must be a goal at every stage of life! There must be a goal!
— Maggie Kuhn

The worst indignity is to be given a bedpan by a stranger who calls you by your first name.
— Maggie Kuhn

Men and women approaching retirement age should be recycled for public service work, and their companies should foot the bill. We can no longer afford to scrap-pile people.
— Maggie Kuhn

Mandatory retirement ought to be illegal.
— Maggie Kuhn

Power should not be concentrated in the hands of so few, and powerlessness in the hands of so many.
— Maggie Kuhn