In celebration of Women’s History month, we revisit a conversation that explores the life and legacy of women who have inspired Constitutional change throughout American history. Joining the conversation are Tomiko Brown-Nagin, author of Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality, and Elizabeth Cobbs, author of Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé. Jeffrey Rosen, CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on April 25, 2023.
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This episode was produced by Lana Ulrich, Tanaya Tauber, and Bill Pollock. With production support from Kevin Kilbourne, David Stotz, and Greg Scheckler. Research was provided by Sophia Gardell.
Participants
Tomiko Brown-Nagin is dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and professor of history at Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She is the author of Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement, and most recently, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality.
Elizabeth Cobbs holds the Melbern G. Glasscock Chair in American History at Texas A&M. A New York Times bestselling author, her many books include The Hello Girls: America’s First Women Soldiers, The Tubman Command, and most recently Fearless Women: Feminist Portraits from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé.
Jeffrey Rosen is CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality (2023)
- Tomiko Brown-Nagin, “Identity Matters: The Case of Judge Constance Baker Motley,” Columbia Law Review (2017)
- Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement (2012)
- Elizabeth Cobbs, Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abagail Adams to Beyoncé (2023)
- Q&A, “Elizabeth Cobbs,” C-SPAN (March 14, 2023)
- Muller v. Oregon (1908)
- National Constitution Center, “The Legality of Abortion Pills,” We the People podcast (April 13, 2023)
- Brandon Burnette, "Comstock Act of 1873 (1873)," First Amendment Encyclopedia
- National Constitution Center, “Women and the American Idea,” America’s Town Hall series (April 25, 2023)
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