2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

This roundtable celebrates the career of Ellen Dubois and anticipates the fortieth anniversary of her Feminism and Suffrage (1978), which foregrounded the role of gender, race, and class in the nation-state. In framing suffrage as a radical political movement, Feminism and Suffrage reflected Dubois’ longstanding activism outside the academy and her willingness to raise difficult questions about the relationship between past and present. This work continued at "The Politics of Sexuality" conference (1982), which she helped to organize and where she co-delivered a keynote with Linda Gordon offering a historical perspective on debates over women’s sexuality. 

As we approach the centennial of woman suffrage and witness the first major party female candidate for the presidency, it is a propitious time to consider Dubois’ legacy.  Potentially difficult conversations have emerged about feminist support for female candidates, about how suffrage is presented to the public, and about the possibilities for academics’ activism in the current climate of precarity and censorship.  Participants, drawn from public history, archives, and the professoriate will engage the audience in discussion of these issues and consider how Dubois’ work not only altered our understanding of woman suffrage and how we teach it, but also helped to shape the possibilities we see for women’s activism inside and outside the academy. 

Participants are connected to the roundtable in the following ways:  Michelle Moravec, black woman suffrage, the Politics of Sexuality; Brenda Stevenson, black women’s activism, feminist academics outside academia; Rumi Yasutake, international women's activism; Ann Gordon, suffrage archives; Linda Frank, public history and suffrage.