The Gender Studies in Georgia Virtual Conference is proud to host Stacey Abrams as the 100th Anniversary Keynote Speaker at 5:00pm on Thursday, October 22, 2020.

Stacey Abrams is a New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO and political leader. Abrams is author of two books, Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change (2018) and Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America (2020). After serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Democratic Leader, In 2018, Abrams became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, winning more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history. Abrams was the first black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States, and she was the first black woman and first Georgian to deliver a Response to the State of the Union.

After witnessing the gross mismanagement of the 2018 election by the Secretary of State’s office, Abrams launched Fair Fight Action to ensure every American has a voice in our election system through programs such as Fair Fight 2020, an initiative to fund and train voter protection teams in 20 battleground states. Over the course of her career, Abrams has founded multiple organizations devoted to voting rights, training and hiring young people of color, and tackling social issues at both the state and national levels. In 2019, she launched Fair Count to ensure accuracy in the 2020 Census and greater participation in civic engagement, and the Southern Economic Advancement Project, a public policy initiative to broaden economic power and build equity in the South. For Abrams’ full profile if initiatives, awards, and contributions, visit fairfight.com/about-stacey-abrams/.

Premilla Nadasen Barnard College

Karsonya Wise Whitehead Loyola University Maryland

Stephanie Y. Evans (Panel Chair) Georgia State University

Stacy Keltner (Panel Co-Chair) SEWSA and Kennesaw State University

This plenary session features three speakers who discuss perspectives of the historical and contemporary implications of founding of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies departments in higher education. Specifically, this panel discusses the publication of an open access book edited by Julie Shayne, Persistence is Resistance: Celebrating 50 Years of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (University of Washington Press, 2020). Dr. Julie Shayne talks about the origins of the Persistence is Resistance book project, the process of editing the book, and her goals for the collection. Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall will discuss her chapter “Introduction” and Dr. Judy Howard will discuss her chapter “Turning a Feminist Lens on Administration.”

Julie Shayne University of Washington-Bothell
o Editor, Persistence is Resistance: Celebrating 50 Years of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Beverly Guy-Sheftall Spelman College
o “Introduction” in Persistence is Resistance

Judy Howard University of Washington-Seattle
o “Turning a Feminist Lens on Administration” in Persistence is Resistance

Stephanie Y. Evans (Panel Chair) Georgia State University
o Reviewer, Persistence is Resistance

Stacy Keltner (Panel Co-Chair) SEWSA and Kennesaw State University

This plenary session features three speakers who engage suffrage history, contextualize our current political moment, and share ongoing strategies to secure voting rights. Dr. Martha S. Jones traces the complicated history of race in the suffrage movement and gender in early Black freedom movements. Michelle Duster, the great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, shares multi-layered insights about the meaning of a cornerstone case study in the fight of suffrage for all. Dr. Carol Anderson delineates the path from there (historical challenges) to here (contemporary struggles) in order to deconstruct failings of democracy and to construct viable plans for inclusive democratic action.

Martha Jones Johns Hopkins University
o Author, Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America
o Author, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

Michelle Duster Columbia College
o Author, Ida In Her Own Words: The Timeless Writings of Ida B. Wells from 1893
o Afterword, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells

Carol Anderson Emory University
o Author, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
o Author, One Person, No Vote

Stephanie Y. Evans Georgia State University
o Author, Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850-1954: An Intellectual History
o Co-editor, Black Women and Social Justice Education: Legacies and Lessons

Tiffany Player Georgia State University
o “What Are We Going to Do For Ourselves?:” African American Women and the Politics of Slavery from the Antebellum Era to the Great Depression (forthcoming)