Editing Barbara Deming (section)

== Personal life ==

Barbara Deming was born in New York City. She attended a ''Friends'' ([[Quaker]]) school up through her high school years.

Deming directed plays, taught dramatic literature and wrote and published fiction and non-fiction works. On a trip to India, she began reading [[Gandhi]], and became committed to a non-violent struggle, with her main cause being Women's Rights. She later became a journalist, and was active in many demonstrations and marches over issues of peace and [[civil rights]]. She was a member of a group that went to [[Hanoi]] during the [[Vietnam War]], and was jailed many times for non-violent protest.<ref name="andrejkoymaskyliv">[http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biod1/demi2.html Andrejkoymasky.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422062849/http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biod1/demi2.html |date=April 22, 2006 }}</ref>

Deming died on August 2, 1984.

=== Relationships ===

At sixteen, she had fallen in love with a woman her mother's age, and thereafter she was openly [[lesbian]]. She was the romantic partner of writer and artist [[Mary Meigs]] from 1954 to 1972. Their relationship eventually floundered, partially due to Meigs's timid attitude,{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} and Deming's unrelenting political activism.

During the time that they were together, Meigs and Deming moved to [[Wellfleet, Massachusetts]], where she befriended the writer and critic [[Edmund Wilson]] and his circle of friends. Among them was the Québécois author [[Marie-Claire Blais]], with whom Meigs became romantically involved. Meigs, Blais, and Deming lived together for six years.<ref>[http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biom3/meig1.html Andrejkoymasky.com]</ref>

In 1976, Deming moved to Florida with her partner, artist Jane Verlaine. Verlaine painted, did figure drawings and illustrated several books written by Deming.  Verlaine was a tireless advocate for abused women.