JoAnn Fowler is a retired Spanish language educator and was a founding member of the University of California, Berkeley student political organization SLATE in the late 1950s. Fowler grew up in Los Angeles, California. She attended UC Berkeley from 1955-1959, where she became active in SLATE and served in student government through Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC). After completing a master's degree at Columbia University, she worked as a teacher, mostly in Davis, California. In this interview, Fowler discusses growing up in Los Angeles in the 1930s-1950s, including the racial and social dynamics of East Los Angeles; attending UC Berkeley in the 1950s, including expectations for women and concerns about freedom of speech; the origins of SLATE, including influential figures and balancing different political perspectives; running for and serving on ASUC in the late 1950s, along with Mike Gucovsky, as the first SLATE members to do so; and SLATE's impact on her leadership skills and interest in labor organizing.