SU Celebrates Women's History Month

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University celebrates Women’s History Month with music, lectures and food March 1-15.

Dr. Sarah Weddington, the victorious attorney from the landmark 1973 Supreme Court abortion case Roe v. Wade, keynotes the series 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, in Holloway Hall Auditorium. She speaks on “Some Women Are Born Leaders.”

In 2003, Time magazine named the day the verdict was rendered in Roe v. Wade one of “80 Days That Changed the World.” The magazine also named her an “Outstanding Young American Leader.” With her victory, Weddington was believed to have been the youngest attorney to win a case before the Supreme Court. Later that year, she became the first woman from Austin to serve in the 150-member Texas House of Representatives. In 1977 she also became the first woman to hold the title of general counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, supervising more than 200 lawyers. She served as assistant to President Jimmy Carter for women’s issues and leadership outreach from 1978-1981. In 1983 she became the first female director of the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations.

Weddington participated in Fortune magazine’s 2004 Most Powerful Women Summit and has received a number of accolades including Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award and the University of California, Berkley, School of Public Health’s National Public Health Hero Award. The Student Organization for Activity Planning sponsors her appearance at SU.

The series culminates with a talk by Dr. Sarah Case, assistant professor in SU’s History Department and director of gender studies at SU. She speaks on “Respectability and Southern Women’s Education, 1880-1920” 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at SU’s Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture.

Case discusses two Georgia schools—the Lucy Cobb Institute of Athens and Spelman Seminary of Atlanta—in the postwar South. One educated daughters of the southern elite while the other taught daughters of former slaves. However, both were led by female faculty who believed teaching modesty and respectability would provide protection against accusations of immorality for young women venturing into the public sphere.

Case earned her A.B. in history at Brown University in 1991, M.A. in public history at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1995, and Ph.D. in U. S. history and women’s history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2002.  Her current publications and projects include Teaching New South Womanhood: Education, Race, and Region in the Modernizing South, under revision for the University of Georgia Press, and a review of Edith D. Pope and Her Nashville Friends by John A. Simpson in the August 2004 edition of Journal of Southern History.

Other Women’s History Month activities include a performance by faculty band Pugsly 7:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, March 2, at the City Bistro on the Downtown Salisbury Plaza. The show features the musical talents of Drs. Chrys Egan, John Egan, Kurt Ludwick and Andy Pica. Those attending must be age 21 or older.

An international women’s dinner is 5-7 p.m. Friday, March 9, in the Bistro of the Commons. The menu offers recipes from famous women including Barbara Bush’s mushroom quiche and Maya Angelou’s banana pudding. Other items include Senator Barbara A Mukulski’s crab cakes, Rosalyn Cater’s chicken supreme, Oprah Winfrey’s roasted asparagus, Pattie Labelle’s potato salad, Reba McEntire’s praline sweet potato casserole, Barbara Eden’s company green beans, Liv Tyler’s apple crumble and Mrs. Fields’ coconut mud bars. Cost of the meal is $9.30, $5.72 for children ages 5-12. Children under 5 dine free.

“Faculty, Folks and Friends,” a faculty concert, spotlights women’s history 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in Cool Beans at the Guerrieri University Center. The performance features acoustic folk music in a casual setting by SU faculty, staff and friends including Drs. Diana Wagner and James Hatley.

A three-night performance of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play The Vagina Monologues, presented in February as an early part of Women’s History Month, raised some $3,580.50 for the Life Crisis Center.

Funds are also collected for Habitat for Humanity on March 1. The SU community helps raise $26,000 for a Habitat house to be built by a female-only crew in April. Those wishing to donate should contact Dr. Diana Wagner at dmwagner@salisbury.edu.

All events are free unless otherwise noted. For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.