The September 1968 protest by feminists outside of the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey was largely responsible for bringing the term "Women's Liberation" into the American national consciousness. The group was led by former television child star Robin Morgan and attended also by Kathie Sarachild, Carol Hanisch, Alix Kates Shulman, and other radical feminists from New York, Florida, Boston, Detroit, and New Jersey.[1]
They placed what they designated a "freedom trash can" on the Atlantic City boardwalk and threw into various items that they believed to be instruments of female oppression, including bras, girdles, high-heeled shoes, and issues of Playboy, and Cosmopolitan. Contrary to popular belief, the protesters followed Atlantic City fire regulations and did not burn the contents of the trash can.[2]
Nonetheless, the women have been mythologized as bra burners. The women also crowned a sheep, carried signs, and chanted slogans. At the end of the pageant, while the newly crowned Miss America was walking down the runway, protesters who had managed to get into the auditorium unfurled a banner from the balcony that read "Women's Liberation".[2]