Ernestine Eckstein (April 23, 1941 – July 15, 1992) was an African-American woman who helped steer the United States Lesbian and Gay rights movement during the 1960s.

Eckstein worked among activists such as Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, Barbara Gittings, Franklin Kameny, and Randy Wicker.

[1] Her given name was Ernestine Delois Eppenger, though all her lesbian and gay activist work was done under the name Eckstein to protect herself from being outed in circles where it was not safe to be open.

That same year Eckstein marched in Philadelphia at the first Annual Reminder Day and in front of the White House as the only person of color demonstrating.

The original Mattachine Society's “old guard” leaders (versus the independent Mattachine Society of Washington who initiated the 1965 protests) wanted to continue pursuing homosexual rights via negotiations with doctors and psychologists while the younger activist wing desired to take the issue of equal civil rights for homosexuals to the people through lobbying government officials and demonstrating.

Marcia M. Gallo writes, “Her [Eckstein’s] plan was to reach out to women who saw the gay struggle as linked to other civil rights issues and hope that during her time as vice president of the local chapter she would help build a more social action oriented group".

[8] In June 1965, DOB actually pulled out of the East Coast Homophile Organization (ECHO) because the coalition was increasing its involvement in protests for lesbian and gay rights.

Eckstein wanted Kameny's help to reinforce to DOB officers and members the need for activism and activist strategies and tactics in moving forward the lesbian and gay movement.

[14] After three years in New York with the DOB Eckstein moved to Northern California to “focus on social justice issues…[she] joined Black Women Organized for Action…in the early 1970s".

[16] Eckstein's involvement with political activism started in the Civil Rights Movement at Indiana State, as an NAACP chapter officer.

[18] Upon moving to the west coast, Eckstein joined the radical, activist group Black Women Organized for Action (BWOA).

BWOA was a San Francisco organization collectively co-founded in 1973 by fifteen women including Aileen Hernandez, Patsy Fulcher, and Eleanor Spikes.

BWOPA, which functioned in an auxiliary fundraising role for men of color running for office, and had many members who wanted to shift to a space explicitly defined by Black women's concerns.

“The organization was structured so that leadership, work, and community involvement were shared among members willing to participate, and “a system of, three coordinators for a three-month tenure” was utilized.

Historian Kimberly Springer writes, “Members were free to choose the activities in which they participated and they were not obligated to subscribe to an organizationally-dictated political perspective.

[21] The BWOA Statement of Purpose reads: The organization's careful use of terms such as “feminist” and “Black” that could potentially alienate or divide their membership encouraged the non-hierarchical atmosphere.