Gray Panthers

The Gray Panthers, founded by Maggie Kuhn in 1970, began as an action-oriented group of women who, outraged at being forced to retire at age 65, began to tackle big issues facing older Americans. Joining forces with Ralph Nader in 1973, the group zeroed in on fraudulent practices in the hearing aid industry. Unafraid to take on the White House, big business, and the media, the Gray Panthers called attention to black elderly needs and ageist stereotyping and [Page 642]pushed hard for pharmaceutical reform. In 1978, the Gray Panthers played a vital role in passage of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act raising the mandatory retirement age to 70, and in 1987, they spearheaded a legislative victory against all mandatory retirement. The Gray Panther organization consists of local networks, each headed by a convenor, as well as a public policy office in Washington. In 1981, the group received official non-governmental organization (NGO) status at the United Nations.

The Gray Panthers had their start in August 1970, when Maggie Kuhn called together five friends in Philadelphia to look at issues faced by retirees, including diminished income, social disconnection with colleagues, and loss of job-related identity. Finding themselves able to speak passionately in public, they joined with college students opposing the Vietnam War to form the Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change. By 1972, their liveliness, quick-witted responses, and controversial positions had earned them the nickname “Gray Panthers,” which soon became official. During the 1970s and 1980s, they exposed and documented nursing home abuse and expanded opportunities linking older people with children through volunteer programs in senior centers. In the 1990s they sponsored an international People's Summit for Peace in Costa Rica and cohosted an Age and Youth in Action Summit in Washington, D.C., to dispel the myth of “generational warfare.”

Holding health conferences and national conventions, as well as publishing manuals, the Gray Panthers have challenged the American Medical Association to revive the American health care system. Medicare has long been a central concern, and the Gray Panthers continue to publish directories of doctors who accept Medicare assignments. In an effort to improve the Medicare claim appeal process, the group pressed for reforms in language and information access. Concerned about tax cuts in 2000, they questioned the economic cost to future recipients of Medicare and Social Security. After the death of their founder in 1995, the group campaigned for Jobs and Workers Rights, Health Care for All, and Guaranteeing Family Security for All. The Gray Panthers continue to be instrumental in holding drug companies accountable for unsafe pharmaceuticals and allowing consumer access to lower-priced prescription drugs.