Symposium Explores Intersectional Struggles for Equality

A symposium hosted by the University of Virginia School of Law will explore the intersectional nature of race and sex/LGBT equality movements, and the future of such activism.

“From the Equal Rights Amendment to Black Lives Matter: Reflecting on Intersectional Struggles for Equality” will be held online Jan. 29 at 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Law and the Virginia Law Review, with co-sponsors including the UVA Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, the Alumni Association event Retold: Celebrating the Women of UVA, and the student groups the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the Black Law Students Association, Lambda Law Alliance, the Latin American Law Organization, the Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association, Virginia Law Women and Women of Color. The event is open to the public.

The event will culminate with a keynote address by Elaine Jones ’70, the Law School’s first Black alumna and first woman to serve as president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF).

“It’s the right time to look at intersectionality and understand how far we have come on these issues, and how much further we need to go,” said Professor Kim Forde-Mazrui, an organizer of the event and the director of the Center for the Study of Race and Law.

Student Bar Association President Katharine Janes, the Virginia Law Review’s online development editor, added, “We’ll be looking at the contributions of activists with intersectional identities and the potential role of intersectional theories to inform future efforts to advance race and sex equality.”

Additionally, the Gregory H. Swanson Award, named in honor of UVA and the Law School’s first Black student, will be presented. The award recognizes students who demonstrate courage, perseverance and a commitment to justice within the community.

The event is part of the University’s 2021 Community MLK Commemoration.

Join Zoom

Phone: +13017158592
Webinar ID: 932 4719 4516
Passcode: 034157
 

Schedule

10:30-11:45 a.m.

Welcome

• Kim Forde-Mazrui, Mortimer M. Caplin Professor of Law; Director, Center for the Study of Race and Law; University of Virginia School of Law
• Arjun Ogale ’21, Editor-in-Chief, Virginia Law Review

Panel I: Lessons From the Past

• Serena Mayeri, Professor of Law and History, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School: “The Successes, Limitations, and Legacies of Intersectional Feminist Advocacy in the 1960s and 1970s”
• Trust Kupupika ’22: “Shaping Our Freedom Dreams: Reclaiming Intersectionality through Black Feminist Legal Theory”
• Hayley Hahn ’21: “Termites in the Master’s House: Abortion Rap and Florynce Kennedy’s Contributions to Racial and Gender Justice”
• Julie Suk, Professor, Sociology; Dean for Master’s Programs, Provost’s Office; Professor, Political Science; City University of New York; Florence Rogatz Visiting Professor of Law, Senior Research Scholar, Yale Law School: “A Dangerous Imbalance: Pauli Murray’s Equal Rights Amendment and the Path to Equal Power”
• Moderators: Naomi Cahn, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law; Nancy L. Buc ’69 Research Professor in Democracy and Equity; Director, Family Law Center; University of Virginia School of Law; Paula Monopoli ’83, Sol & Carlyn Hubert Professor of Law; Founding Director, Women Leadership & Equality Program; University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

11:45 a.m.-Noon

Break

Noon-1:15 p.m.

Panel II: The Struggle Today

• Adrienne Davis, Vice Provost; William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law; Director, Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity; Founder, Co-Director, Law & Culture Initiative; Washington University in St. Louis School of Law: “Explaining the Power of Black Lives Matter and the Split Gender Politics of Today”
• Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network; New York University School of Law: “Justice Thomas’s Concurrence in Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky and its Association of Abortion Rights with the Eugenics Movement”
• Rachel Slepoi ’22: “Bostock’s Inclusive Queer Frame”
• Camille Gear Rich, Associate Provost of Diversity and Inclusion, Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Southern California Gould School of Law: “Colorblind Patriotism? Recognizing the Role Intersectional Politics Play in Constructions of Protest in First Amendment Conversations”
• Moderator: Anne M. Coughlin, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

1:15-1:30 p.m.

Break

1:30-1:50 p.m.

Presentation of Gregory H. Swanson Award

• Risa Goluboff, Dean, Arnold H. Leon Professor of Law, Professor of History, University of Virginia School of Law

1:50-3 p.m.

Keynote Address

• Elaine R. Jones ’70, Former President, Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund