MEMPHIS, TENN.-- With the memory of Ms. Ida B. Wells and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. burning deeply in their hearts in this Mississippi River town, hundreds of delegates to the 1997 National NOW Conference rededicated themselves to making their dream of economic and political equality for all women a reality.

Delegates from across the country voted to join forces with poverty and immigrant rights groups to fight a conservative movement bent on exclusion over inclusion. They vowed to elect 2,000 feminist candidates to offices across the country by the year 2000. And they made their own promise to expose the real agenda of ultra-conservative groups like the Promise Keepers, who hide behind a cloak of religion.

"This conference was a confirmation that NOW and feminism are working for equality for all women, and our work cuts across so many lines of race, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation," NOW President Patricia Ireland told cheering delegates at Sunday afternoon's closing plenary. "Our gains have been made despite the efforts by our enemies to divide and weaken us.

"Feminists have long dreamed of equality for all women, and our work has carried us to the very brink of reality," Ireland said. "We take our commitment to democracy seriously, and just as Rev. King and Ms. Wells refused to cower in the face of great adversity, we too will not back down no matter how vicious the attacks against us. In fact, we will turn our dream into a nightmare for our enemies whose greatest fear is our success."

Voting by acclamation, NOW members elected Ireland to her second term as president. Also elected to second terms were Kim Gandy, Vice President/Executive, and Karen Johnson, Vice President/Membership. Elected to her first term as a national NOW officer was Elizabeth Toledo, who replaced retiring Vice President/Action Rosemary Dempsey.

With the theme, "Living the Dream," NOW delegates heard from feminist political leaders such as U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, D-Ill., and Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., who expressed gratitude for NOW's support and promised to fight the ongoing backlash against women's rights. And members hunkered down to set strategy to combat sexual harassment in the workplace, to end attacks against reproductive rights, and to elect more feminist to office -- from the local levee board to statehouses to Congress -- by the year 2000.

"Through activism we work to change public opinion and culture," Ireland said, "but we cannot stop there. We must translate that public opinion into public policy in the ballot box. NOW remains on the cutting edge of the women's rights movement because we have a clear vision of our future."