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Miami hosting 18th annual Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality Symposium

Miami University hosts its 18th annual Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality Symposium Friday-Saturday, March 13-14.
The event is co-sponsored by the women’s, gender and sexuality studies program at Miami and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.

The theme of this year’s symposium is “Sharing Secrets, Telling Untold Stories: Gender Empowerment and Social Movements in 2020.” The event is free and open to the public.

Keynote speakers include historian Kimberly Hamlin and voting rights advocate Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins.

Kimberly Hamlin

Kimberly Hamlin

Kimberly Hamlin, history and American studies professor at Miami, will present “Helen Hamilton Gardener and the Secret History of How Women Got the Vote” at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the Dolibois Room of Shriver Center.

Hamlin is an award-winning historian, speaker and writer, and her new book, Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrage, and the Extraordinary Life of Helen Hamilton Gardener, focuses on the struggle of women throughout history in their fight for the right to vote. The book received the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award and Carrie Chapman Catt Award for Research on Women and Politics.

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins is a 1974 graduate of the Western College for Women. She will present “A Legacy in Balance: The Stories that Tell Us Why We Can’t Wait” at 1 p.m. Saturday at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Jefferson-Jenkins is the recipient of the Freedom of Summer ’64 Award from Miami and will be presented the award on March 12. She is an adjunct assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is a former president of the National League of Women Voters and the author of a new book, The Untold Story of Women of Color in the League of Women Voters. The book honors the 100-year founding of the league and its impact on women of color.

Friday’s events begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Dolibois Room of Shriver Center with a series of papers, panels and workshops throughout the day. In addition, Stephen Guynup, a data and immersive technical specialist at Miami, will give an introduction on virtual reality technology and discovering stories.

Saturday’s events begin at 1 p.m. in the auditorium of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and also includes a presentation from the School Board School of Cincinnati, a local nonprofit group.

Sign up for a pre-symposium workshop and talk

Co-sponsored by the women’s, gender and sexuality studies program and Miami University Libraries, the workshop, “Digital Storytelling Three Day Facilitator Training,” will be held from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. on March 10-12 and facilitated by Joe Lambert and Ngozi Oparah of StoryCenter, Berkeley, CA.

A talk by Lambert,” Digital Storytelling and Social Change,” will take place at 5:30 p.m. on March 12 in 320 King Library.

Applications for the workshop are due Feb. 28. More information about the talk and workshop is available online.