Her senior year she played Eliza Doolittle in the Ukiah High School production of My Fair Lady.

[citation needed] After starting high school in 1963, Near began singing with three boys who called themselves the Freedom Singers, a folk group modeled after The Kingston Trio.

Unbeknownst to her, Near would soon meet one of the founding members of that group, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, an artist who would be a great influence for the next 40-plus years.

After one year, she left UCLA and began to work in film and television as well as with anti-war groups such as Another Mother for Peace.

[1] Following the Kent State shootings in May of that year, the entire cast staged a silent vigil in protest.

[1] The tour was organized by antiwar activist Fred Gardner and actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.

[2] During her long career in folk and protest music, Near has worked with a wide array of musicians, including Ronnie Gilbert, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Mercedes Sosa, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Meg (Shambhavi) Christian, Cris Williamson, Linda Tillery, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Harry Belafonte, and many others, as well as the Chilean exile group Inti-Illimani.

In April 2004, Near performed at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC where she sang "We Are Gentle Angry People" and "Fired Up" a capella.

[11] She is still active as a performer and composer, and she has begun issuing CDs available through her website that include tracks from her out-of-print albums.

Near hosted many of the tributes to both Pete Seeger and Ronnie Gilbert, two members of the seminal folk group The Weavers.

[citation needed] In 2018, Near released a new recording titled 2018, reflecting on issues including the environment, aging, domestic violence and the unresolved storm damage in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria.

[13] As a result of her travels in the Pacific with the FTA show, Near became a feminist, linking international feminism and anti-war activism.

She added LGBTQ issues to her international peace work as she continued to present social change music around the world and at home.

[14]Near is dedicated to the rights of LGBT communities and continues to work to create a cultural forum for diversity.

Even though sexual preference is maybe 5th or 10th on my personal list of priorities now, I will always work for all of us to have self-determination over our bodies, our identities, our relationship choices.

Near has been recognized many times for her work for social change, including honors from the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, NARAS, Ms. Magazine (Woman of the Year), and the Legends of Women's Music Award.

[citation needed] In 1989, Near received a Doctorate of Humane Letters from World College West in California.