Category Archives: Feminist Legal History

“Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: NASA’s Lost Female Astronauts”

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Women were more qualified to to go into space than men. Having the wrong gonads kept them grounded. This Wired.com article reports: … In the late 1950s, the United States government contemplated training women as astronauts, and newly released medical … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academia, Employment Discrimination, Feminist Legal History, The Underrepresentation of Women | 1 Comment

Betty Ford Was A Feminist

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Check out this post at Tennessee Guerilla Women, which notes: “In the 1970s, First Lady Betty Ford advocated the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), was openly pro choice and proudly told the world that she was a feminist.” … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Politics, Feminist Legal History | Comments Off

“Maggot Lace”

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Ann Bartow

A few weeks ago I read a piece by Caitlin Flanagan in the September issue of The Atlantic, entitled: Sex and the Married Man. Like about everything Flanagan writes it was awful, full of lurid and venemous speculation about the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminist Legal History, Sexism in the Media | 1 Comment

“Missing Woman – Amelia Earhart’s flight” by Judith Thurman

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Ann Bartow

In the New Yorker – read it here.

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminist Legal History | Comments Off

Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Vitaphone newsreel from 1930. In this footage Sullivan and Keller demonstrate how Helen Keller learned to talk.

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminist Legal History | 4 Comments

The Margaret Sanger Papers Project

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Ann Bartow

A lot gets written and said about Margaret Sanger. This NYU archive provides readers with access to her actual words. It also offers rebuttals to mischaracterizations of her views, and other information about Sanger and her work. –Ann Bartow

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminist Legal History, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Reproductive Rights | 1 Comment

Women have always outnumbered men in college;”Womyn”and”waitperson”have always been in the dictionary.

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Those are two excerpts from The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2013.

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Posted in Academia, Feminist Legal History | 1 Comment

“Woman Suffrage in Iowa” at Blanden Memorial Art Museum

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

“Woman Suffrage in Iowa: 90 Years After the ‘Winning Plan’” is a current exhibition at Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The image of the poster at left, featured in the Blanden exhibit, derives from an original painting … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and the Arts, Feminist Legal History | Comments Off

A Feminist Legal History of U.S. Patriotism

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

To mark the July 4 holiday, I’m reading a book by Francesca Morgan (History, Northeastern Illinois University). In  Women and Patriotism in Jim Crow America (UNC Press 2005), Morgan details the activities of these women’s volunteer organizations founded after the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, Race and Racism, Recommended Books | Comments Off

The Women’s Orchestra in Auschwitz

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Liane Curtis asked me to post this for her; she can be contacted at lcurtis@brandeis.edu Article: The Women’s Orchestra in Auschwitz Hello, Some years ago, I worked with a student in translating a 1996 article by Gabrielle Knapp from German … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, Sisters In Other Nations | Comments Off

Nixon Supported Abortions to Prevent Racial Mixing

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Whoa.  The New York Times reports here on the contents of the Nixon-Whitehouse tapes released yesterday by the National Archives.  One recording (audio file here) captured Nixon’s reflections on  Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, the day the Supreme … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, Race and Racism, Reproductive Rights | 1 Comment

Legal History Research Resources: Stonewall Edition

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

OutHistory.org, is a website produced by produced by The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), located at the City University of New York Graduate Center.  All of the content is provided by volunteers.   A new on-line exhibit (here) … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, LGBT Rights | Comments Off

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury: The Role of the “Child Care Exception” in the Development of the Right of Women to Serve as Jurors

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Colin Miller

In its recent opinion in State v. Schmeiderer, 2009 WL 961787 (Tenn.Crim.App. 2009), the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee rejected a convicted murder’s appeal, in which he had claimed, inter alia, that “the trial court systematically excluded women from … Continue reading →

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Posted in Courts and the Judiciary, Feminism and Families, Feminist Legal History | 1 Comment

Gail Laughlin, Nineteenth Century Lawyer and Rights Activist

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Today is the birthday of Gail Laughlin (1868-1952), an 1898 graduate of Cornell Law School.    She served in the Maine House (1927-1934) and the Maine Senate (1937-1941).  She was an early advocate for woman suffrage and for the prevention … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History | 1 Comment

Unveiling the Bronze Bust of Truth

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From the Feminist Daily News Wire: Michelle Obama unveiled a bust of Sojourner Truth, known for her abolitionist and women’s rights work, at the US Capitol yesterday. Truth’s statue is the first of an African-American woman in the Capitol. The … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Politics, Feminist Legal History, Firsts, Race and Racism | Comments Off

“What Every Woman Should Know about Fannie Lou Hamer”

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Great historical post by this title here, at the New Agenda.

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Somehow Missed Mary Wollstonecraft’s 250th Birthday

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Luckily, Historiann did not.

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Law Professor Annette Gordon-Reed (NYLS) Wins Pulitzer

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From the NYT list of winners: HISTORY:”The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,”by Annette Gordon-Reed: A painstaking exploration of a sprawling multi-generation slave family that casts provocative new light on the relationship between Sally Hemings and her master, Thomas Jefferson.” … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academia, Feminist Legal History, Race and Racism, Recommended Books | Comments Off

What the United States Postal Service Understands that Michigan Law Review Doesn’t

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

The United States Postal Service seems to understand — in a way that the Michigan Law Review doesn’t (see here) — that gender balance is important.  In choosing “Civil Rights Pioneers” to honor in its commemorative stamp series above, the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Feminists in Academia | 1 Comment

This one is going to be controversial: “Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity, and the ACLU” by Wendy Kaminer

Posted on April 3, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Product Description What happens when an organization with the express goal of defending individual rights and liberties starts silencing its own board? Lawyer and social critic Wendy Kaminer has intimate knowledge of such a conflict between individual conscience and group … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminist Legal History | 1 Comment

“Jaded”

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Ann Bartow

That’s the name of this post at What Tami Said, a blog I like a lot. Tami is a talented writer and her posts are always interesting. Here’s a short except from “Jaded“: Women’s equality, I think, is best achieved–not … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Politics, Feminist Blogs Of Interest, Feminist Legal History, Race and Racism | Comments Off

Is Women’s History Month History?

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Did you know that each year the National Women’s History Project establishes a theme for Women’s History month?  I didn’t.  This year’s theme is “Women taking the lead to save our planet.”   I don’t know if it is me, … Continue reading →

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Bella Abzug Research Resources

Posted on March 9, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

From the National Council for Research on Women, a “learning and organizing guide” to accompany Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom’s edited volume,  Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad from the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, Pissed Off … Continue reading →

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I Wanna Be …

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Via The New Agenda blog

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Posted in Feminism and Politics, Feminist Legal History, Firsts, The Underrepresentation of Women | Comments Off

I Don’t Give a Damn Bout My Bad Reputation: Julia Simon-Kerr’s “Unchaste and Incredible” and the Development of the Character Evidence Rules

Posted on February 22, 2009 by Colin Miller

In the American court system, when judges allow attorneys to attack the character of witnesses, they generally allow them to do so only through reputation and opinion testimony. Federal Rule of Evidence 405(a) provides that: In all cases in which … Continue reading →

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Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Feminist Legal History, Feminist Legal Scholarship | Comments Off

“Gender, history and biography”

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Cool post from an even cooler blogger: Historiann! Oh and while you are over there, also check out A Tale of Two Senators.

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No Girls Allowed

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Larger version here. Via.

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Ann M. Valk, “Radical Sisters: Second-wave Feminism and Black Liberation in Washington, D.C.”

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Haven’t read this book but it looks interesting. From the publisher: “Radical Sisters” is a fresh exploration of the ways that 1960s political movements shaped local, grassroots feminism in Washington, D.C. Rejecting notions of a universal sisterhood, Anne M. Valk … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, Recommended Books | Comments Off

“Letter from Women’s Historians to President Elect Obama” asking for gender equity in the proposed economic stimulus package.

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Friends and colleagues, Attached is a letter to President-elect Obama making a historical case for more attention to gender equity in the proposed stimulus package. It is based on a draft circulated by Linda Gordon with input from several others. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Politics, Feminist Legal History, Women and Economics | Comments Off

Rutgers School of Law-Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law, February 13, 2009

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Bridget Crawford

From Feminist Law Prof Suzanne Kim (Rutgers-Newark), this notice of an upcoming conference: Rutgers School of Law-Newark is pleased to be celebrating its  centennial this year.   To honor the law school’s tradition of contributing to  social justice, we are … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, Firsts, Law Schools, Upcoming Conferences | Comments Off

“Girls Beware!”

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Ann Bartow

“Girls Beware”,   the girl-oriented companion film to the unbelievably homphobic anti-gay propaganda film “Boys Beware”, similarly informed 1950s era viewers about the grave risks posed to teenagers by men. Wasn’t produced by feminists, that’s for sure! –Ann Bartow

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminist Legal History, Guest Blogger | Comments Off

Malcolm M. Feeley and Hadar Aviram, “Where Have All the Women Gone? The Decline of Women in the Criminal Justice Process”

Posted on November 11, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Abstract: This project sets out to refute the common criminological assumption that women have always constituted a negligible percentage of those subjected to the criminal justice process. Using a variety of primary and secondary datasets drawn from dozens of European … Continue reading →

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