[2] The group's name is derived from bluestocking, a term used to disparage feminist intellectuals of earlier centuries, and red, for its association with the revolutionary left.

[4] Other early members included Kathie Sarachild, Patricia Mainardi, Barbara Leon, Corrine Grad Coleman,[5] Lucinda Cisler,[6] Irene Peslikis,[7] and Alix Kates Shulman.

Redstockings went through several phases of activity and inactivity; they first split up in 1970 and were formally refounded in 1973 by Sarachild,[10] Carol Hanisch,[10] Mainardi, and Leon.

One of the group's earliest actions was on February 13, 1969, when members stormed a hearing of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Public Health, which was considering abortion law reform.

About a month later, Redstockings soon held its own "hearing", an open meeting in the Washington Square Methodist Church, where twelve women testified about their experiences with illegal abortion.

On March 3, 1989, Redstockings met again at the Washington Square Methodist Church to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their 1969 meeting, at a speakout called "Abortion: Women Tell it Like it Is, Was, and Ought to Be...1969-1989."

Consciousness raising was the act by which the theory of "the personal is the political" met practice, and was more essential to Redstockings' feminism than organizational membership.

[16] Notable essays associated with the group include "The Redstockings Manifesto"[17] and "Program for Consciousness-Raising", as well as "The Politics of Housework" by Pat Mainardi.

The fifth section sets forth Redstockings' primary goal, which is "to develop female class consciousness through sharing experience and publicly exposing the sexist foundation of all our institutions."

[21] The republished anthology, however, omits a controversial report on Gloria Steinem's involvement with a liberal youth group that was later revealed to have been funded by the CIA.