Panel discussion on women's movement to be held April 8

April 2, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla.–”Activists Among Us: the Gainesville Women’s Movement Across Generations” will take place on Thursday, April 8 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Matheson Museum, 513 East University Ave. Sponsored by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, the panel discussion will bring together local activists from the 1950s to the present to discuss the ongoing struggle for social justice, gender equality and human rights. The panel also will serve as a springboard for the collection and preservation of historical materials on the history of women’s activism in Gainesville.

Moderated by Patricia Hilliard-Nunn, this event will include members from Gainesville Women for Equal Rights, an interracial organization of women whose active work for civil and human rights changed the course of history in Gainesville. It also will include Gainesville activists in the pivotal women’s liberation movement of the 1960s. Serving as one of the main centers of feminist activity nationwide, Gainesville feminists posed radical challenges to male authority and ushered in a new era of social change and opportunity for women.

Panelists include Vivian Filer, Kathie Sarachild, Jean Martin,Deanye Overman, Sallie Ann Harrison, Corky Culver and Carol Thomas.

Cosponsors include the University of Florida Department of History, the UF Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, George Smathers Libraries, The Bob Graham Center For Public Service, The UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere (Yavitz Fund), the Women’s Studies Graduate Student Association, the History Graduate Society, The Gainesville Women’s Commission, The Emily Dickinson Society, The Rosewood Foundation, The Matheson Museum, Inc. and the Civic Media Center.

For more information on the event, please call the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at 352-392-7168 .For more information about the oral history program, please visit http://www.history.ufl.edu/oral/.