While the National Women’s History Museum waits for authorization from Congress, its organizers are launching a series of lectures on scholarly topics.
Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor are part of American history and most likely their achievements will be part of the planned National Women’s History Museum. (Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States/AP)
“The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Women’s History” kicks off October 18 with a talk by Dr. Vicki Ruiz, the dean of the School of Humanities at the University of California at Irvine. Ruiz, a social historian and professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies, will discuss milestones of Latino history in the U.S.
One of the upcoming lectures is about African American women in the Civil War. This historic photo shows slaves outside a building at the Foller Plantation in Cumberland Landing, Pamunkey Run, Virginia. (Library of Congress)
Booked for the next forums are: Dr. Thavolia Glymph of Duke University, who will discuss “African-American Women: Refugees in the Civil War” on November 17; Dr. Linda Gordon of New York University on December 12 with a look at photographer Dorothea Lange; and Dr. Deborah Willis of New York University who will explore the history of beauty among black women from 1890 to now.
The bill to create the museum in Washington, which would be supported with private funds, has passed committees in both the House and the Senate and is waiting action by the full House and Senate.
