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Contacts: Ryan Maus, University News Service, (612) 624-1690, maus@umn.edu
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/26/2008) — Legendary organizer, strategist, educator, author and political handywoman Suzanne Pharr will deliver the Eighth Allan Spear Lecture on Public Policy at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2 in the 3M Auditorium at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, 321 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis.
The lecture, “The Politics of Equality or Division: Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality and Culture,” is free and open to the public. It is part of the Steven J. Schochet Endowment Distinguished Lecture Series in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally (GLBTA) Programs Office.
In her talk, Pharr will give a brief personal history of her own work in intersectional politics -- the ways in which categories like race, class, gender, sexuality and culture interact in the political realm. She will also outline the historical context of this important political movement, beginning with the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act and the campaign of Barry Goldwater and ending with the 2008 presidential campaign.
Following the lecture, Pharr will lead an interactive discussion on how intersectionality affects current work for social and economic justice, as well as provide her insight and analysis of the current campaign for the presidency.
“During this historic presidential campaign, it is so important to hear from those activists who have been urging us to think broadly about issues of GLBT empowerment, racial and economic justice and social transformation,” said Anne Phibbs, director of the GLBTA Programs Office. “Now more than ever, we need to pay attention to the insights of leaders like Suzanne Pharr.”
Pharr has spent her entire adult life working to build a broad-based social and economic justice movement, founding the Women's Project in Arkansas in 1981, co-founding Southerners on New Ground in 1984 and serving as the director of the prestigious Highlander Research and Education Center from 1999-2004. She is also the author of two books -- “Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism” and “In the Time of the Right: Reflections on Liberation.”
The Steven J. Schochet Endowment organization will host a dessert reception for Pharr and members of the public following the lecture and discussion.
University alumnus Steven Schochet, class of 1959, set up the Schochet Endowment to support education, awareness and programming on GLBT issues. The Schochet Distinguished Lecture Series brings prominent local, national and international GLBT people to campus to tell in their own words how their careers advance the areas of GLBT culture and public policy.