On Tuesday, December 10, 2019, the Law Library of Congress will commemorate Human Rights Day with a discussion on the women’s suffrage movement and how it impacts women’s rights today.
Each year the Law Library of Congress celebrates Human Rights Day with a panel discussion focusing on the understanding and recognition of a critical social, economic, or cultural human rights issue. In previous years, the Law Library has hosted a number of Human Rights Day events that highlight various aspects of this topic, including Repatriating Native American Cultural Property and Remains, Human Rights in Eastern Europe, Islamic Law reform, bioethics, and the rights of refugees and internally displaced persons.
Colleen Shogan, the assistant deputy librarian of the Library Collections and Services Group and the Library’s representative on the Congressional Suffrage Centennial Commission, will moderate the discussion. The panelists will include Corrine McConnaughy, author and associate professor of political science at The George Washington University and Elaine Weiss, journalist and author.
Corrine McConnaughy is an associate professor of political science at The George Washington University. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Michigan, and has previously held faculty positions at the University of Texas at Austin, The Ohio State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research is largely focused on the conduct and consequences of identity politics, with emphasis on the roles race and gender play in American politics, and on the development of political institutions. She is the author of a book on the partisan and coalitional politics of women’s voting rights, entitled The Woman Suffrage Movement in America: A Reassessment. Her research has appeared in a range of academic journals including the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, Politics & Gender, Studies in American Political Development, and American Politics Research. She is an occasional contributor to the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog and regularly writes and comments on gender and race issues in politics for other media outlets, including Vox, the New York Times, HuffPost, PBS, and CNN.
Elaine Weiss is a Baltimore-based journalist and author, whose feature writing has been recognized with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, and her byline has appeared in many national publications, as well as in reports for National Public Radio. Her long-form writing garnered a Pushcart Prize “Editor’s Choice” award, and she is a MacDowell Colony Fellow. Weiss’ new book, The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote has critical acclaim from the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, and The New Yorker, among others, hailed as a “riveting, nail-biting political thriller” with powerful parallels to today’s political environment. She has presented talks about the book and the woman suffrage movement at the Library of Congress, National Archives, New York Historical Society, and many other venues. The Woman’s Hour was a finalist for the 2019 Chautauqua Prize and won the American Bar Association‘s highest honor, the 2019 Silver Gavel Award. Steven Speilberg’s Amblin production company has optioned the book for adaptation, with Hillary Rodham Clinton serving as executive producer.
The Shall Not Be Denied Exhibition viewing will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the panel discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 10, LJ-119, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The program is free and open to the public. While tickets are not required, registration is not a guarantee of admission. Seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
We hope you can join us for the event. Register at humanrightsday2019.eventbrite.com.
Please request ADA accommodations 5 business days in advance at 202-707-6362 or [email protected].