Honoring Sally Roesch Wagner

Sally Roesch Wagner (July 11, 1942 – June 11, 2025), our comrade, supporter and a source of great inspiration, passed away several weeks ago on June 11. A scholar, educator, writer and activist, Sally was also a kind, caring and fun-loving woman who will be dearly missed here in Syracuse (her adopted home), and across the world.

Sally was a groundbreaking scholar, receiving one of the first doctorates in Women's Studies in 1979, and founding  one of the first college-level women’s studies programs. She taught for decades, wrote and spoke prolifically and organized thoughtfully, all with a radical, folksy sensibility.

A central part of Sally's lifework was recovering the legacy of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a key early feminist who was written out of history because she was simply too radical. Her family described it this way: “Sally dedicated her life to rebalancing that omission and celebrating the bold, radical heart of the women’s justice movement.” “Sally often said: ‘I fell in love with a dead woman, followed her right across the country, and it changed my life.’” 

It also changed life in Central New York, where Sally founded the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center to chronicle that history, and bring it to life as part of today's struggles for feminism and justice. Justice for Indigenous people was also central to Sally's life and work. She was a pioneer in surfacing the deep inspiration which Haudenosaunee Women provided to early Women's Rights activists in Upstate New York (including Gage).

Here at SCW, we were honored to know and partner with Sally over at least two decades. We collaborated with her to create our poster/postcard Iroquois Women: An Inspiration to Early Feminists (now Haudenosaunee Women). Longtime director Dik Cool worked closely with Sally to create The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Collection, a series of Chapbooks edited by Sally. We've also carried Sally's books for many years, with her Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence On Early American Feminists having remained a strong seller for well over a decade.

Thank you Sally for your remarkable life and work. We miss you, and we'll carry on.

In Peace,

Andy Mager
SCW Coordinator

PS: Check out this powerful presentation by Sally in conversation with her dear friend Jeanne Shenandoah (Onondaga Nation eel clan) discussing Haudenosaunee nfluence on early feminists.