In recognition of Professor Brenda E Stevenson beginning her tenure as the first Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair of Women’s History at Oxford University, the University is running a programme of public events this October.
First announced in October 2020, the Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair of Women’s History has been created to enhance Oxford’s existing work in women’s history by driving pioneering research around intersectional equality, and transforming how the subject is taught and studied at Oxford.
Professor Brenda E Stevenson, inaugural lecture: Creating History at the Intersection of Gender, Jim Crow and Remembrance’
Professor Stevenson will give her inaugural lecture from 5pm-6pm on Monday 25 October. Entitled ‘Creating History at the Intersection of Gender, Jim Crow and Remembrance’, it will be available to watch live on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5LUCg56ZjU
Professor Stevenson is a world leading historian of race, slavery, gender, family and conflict, and joins the University from her role as Nickoll Family Endowed Professor of History at UCLA.
Her inaugural lecture builds on the theme of enhancing existing research to uncover and record the untold realities of the women history has forgotten. The prolific historian Susie Byrd’s efforts to commit the important histories of formerly enslaved people living in Depression era Virginia, will form the talk’s foundation, and serve as springboard to discuss her enduring impact on the study of history, and her influence on challenging the patriarchal nature and bias that purported to document Black slavery in North America.
Professor Stevenson, said: ‘One of the first important lessons that I learned, when trying to work my way through the truths, deceptions and confusions overlaid in the scattered sources and muffled voices one encounters in the archive, is that women often tell women’s stories. They speak, whisper, rhyme, joke, sing, hum, sew, embroider, quilt, weave, braid and dance to and for their intimate audiences of daughters, friends, kin and— thankfully —sometimes to interviewers who record them, the bits and pieces of their own and of other women’s scabbed-over histories, even daring to rip off the scab and let the blood drip, hoping it will touch and enlighten— someone. ’
Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair of Women’s History Roundtable Discussion: ‘Women’s History: The Future’
On Tuesday 26 October at 530.pm, Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, will host a roundtable discussion featuring
Professor Brenda E Stevenson and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, which will be held at the Sheldonian Theatre Oxford, addressing the complexities of ‘Women’s history: the future.’ The event will be immediately followed by a closing address from Secretary Clinton.
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, 67th United States Secretary of State, said: ‘History reveals the past, informs the present, and shapes the future. Yet the story has largely focused on men, including women only as an afterthought or in a supporting role. That must change. Oxford has embraced this challenge. The Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair in Women’s History will lead the way, emboldening a global network of scholars and students. I am both grateful and honoured.’
Further information and event join-up details can be found here:
Live broadcast:
In person:
