Register for Are Women People?

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is back in the headlines nearly 100 years after its inception. First proposed in 1923 as a follow-up to the 19th Amendment, the ERA has prompted heated debates about American womanhood for decades. Are women people first, or mothers? Are women fundamentally equal to men, or fundamentally different from men? What would it look like for women to be both equal and different? 

Join Professor Kimberly Hamlin of Miami University as she analyzes the evolution of ERA debates, highlights the fascinating women who devoted their lives to working for and against the ERA — including Alice Paul and Phyllis Schlafly — and brings the debate up to the present with the post-2016 resurgence of ERA activism. 

This program is hosted in connection with the Extraordinary Women exhibit, now on view at the Minnesota History Center. It will be available live on Zoom and as a recording later on Facebook and YouTube. 

Professor Kimberly Hamlin, Miami University
A recent recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Public Scholar Award, Hamlin regularly contributes to the Washington Post and other media outlets, and she lectures widely on topics related to women and gender. She is also a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.