Temple University, in Philadelphia. (AP)

NEW YORK: Florence Howe, an activist, educator and major contributor to American literature and culture who as cofounder of the Feminist Press helped revive such acclaimed and influential works as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and Rebecca Harding Davis’

“Life in the Iron Mills,” has died.

Howe died Saturday in Manhattan,

according to the Feminist Press. She was 91 and in recent years had been treated for Parkinson’s disease.

“Florence Howe was a visionary with extraordinary literary taste, an ear for transformative ideas, and a steely focus on feminism and social justice,” Linda Villarosa, chair of the Feminist Press board, said in a statement. “Like me, people across several generations can thank Florence for opening our eyes, uplifting our voices, mentoring us as writers and scholars, and training us to step into her shoes.” A native of New York City and a civil rights activist in the 1960s, Howe and her then-husband Paul Lauter founded the non-profit publisher in 1970, and dedicated themselves to introducing readers to overlooked and socially conscious works of literature, by women of the past and present. (AP)