Public Events --

Paul Mickey Science Series: Filling in the Blanks: Social Reform Movements and the Life of Martha Ann Blanks

Paul Mickey Science Series: Filling in the Blanks: Social Reform Movements and the Life of Martha Ann Blanks

• Location: ISM Research & Collections Center, Springfield
• Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

PLEASE NOTE: LECTURE WILL BE HELD ON THE THIRD WEDNESDAY OF MARCH RATHER THAN THE SECOND

In recognition of March as Women's History Month the Mickey Lecture Series presents:

Filling in the Blanks: Social Reform Movements and the Life of Martha Ann Blanks

Deanda Johnson, Midwest Regional Coordinator, National Park Service, National UGRR Network to Freedom Program, Omaha, Nebraska

Martha Ann Blank’s (née Pelham) 1880 death certificate lists her occupation as “housewife.” While the title of “housewife” places her within the domesticity that defined “true womanhood” and was central to notions of black progress, it seemingly obscures her important contributions as an African American female activist. For African American women, especially those of the middle-class like Blanks, activism was essential to notions of racial self-help and their quest for civil rights. This presentation will use Blanks’ life as a lens to explore nineteenth century African American women’s participation in social reform movements (i.e., abolition and temperance) before, during, and after the Civil War.

One of our Paul Mickey Science Series

Discover Illinois' rich prehistoric and historic past by attending an ISM Paul Mickey Science Series Program. A different speaker and topic are featured each month. For more information on upcoming topics and speakers, please contact Nina Walthall at (217) 782-0061 or 217-785-0037.

• Usually held the second Wednesday of Each Month
• 7:00 to 8:30 PM
• Held at the ISM Research & Collections Center, 1011 East Ash Street (enter the building from 10 ½ Street between Ash & Laurel Streets), Springfield, Illinois
  
• Free Admission