Julia B. to Kamala D: From Woman Suffrage to Equal Rights
March 22-26, 2021
Online – free and open to the public
Sponsored by Hamline University and Mitchell Hamline School of Law
On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, prohibiting states from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. The Amendment was a victory for women’s rights and for equal suffrage. This week of online events commemorates the work of activists in Minnesota who ensured that right and explores current debates and litigation over the Equal Rights Amendment and the Voting Rights Act.
The week begins Monday evening with a showing of the documentary Citizen, on Minnesota women’s role in the fight for woman suffrage; a conversation with producer Daniel Bergin and production assistant Anne Guttridge follows. Tuesday evening’s panel of eminent historians will discuss their work in Minnesota History (Fall 2020) on the history of Minnesota suffrage activity that changed ideas about citizenship and exposed the roles of gender, ethnicity, and race in the movement. On Wednesday afternoon, University of Florida Professor Danaya Wright will describe current litigation and activities to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment; a discussion follows with Mitchell Hamline, Professor Joanna Woolman. On Thursday, Mitchell Hamline Professor Raleigh Levine will trace modern litigation on the Voting Rights Act and describe what issues lie ahead for this important federal law; Mitchell Hamline Black Law Student Association President Aretha Haynes will moderate. On Friday, Hamline University professors David Schultz and Madeline Thieschafer (Hamline CLA ‘20) will share their collaborative research on states that passed an Equal Rights Amendment.
Application for 7.0 CLE credits for the series is pending.
Co-sponsors for this series include The Infinity Project, Hamline University Legal Studies Department, Hamline University Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Hamline University Center for Justice and Law, Hamline University Social Justice Program, and the Hamline University History Department. Individual sessions are sponsored by Twin Cities PBS (TPT) and the Minnesota Historical Society.
Find the full program and speaker information and a registration link here: