Cambridge, Mass.—On November 17, Anita Hill spoke at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University about her new book, Reimagining Equality. Anita Hill, who became nationally known during Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearings, is a professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University.

In Reimagining Equality, Hill examines how “home” has figured in the imagination of individuals committed to gender and racial equality in the United States. In the present economic situation, the inclusive democracy promised in the US Constitution is at stake, and Hill aims to broaden our thinking about home and to reimagine equality for the future.

“We rarely think about the importance of a home. . . . Think of all the things that are determined by where one calls home, including who will be your political representation, where your children will go to school. Those are the obvious things. They also include whether or not you are going to be able to exercise and walk at night, whether or not you are able to buy wholesome and healthy foods, whether you are going to be able to access medical facilities, and whether you are going to be able to get to your job, and then if you need to, get back to take care of your children,” Hill stated during the lecture. “I imagine a world where no matter where you live, you can enjoy all the benefits and opportunities this country has to offer.”

After receiving her JD from Yale Law School in 1980, Hill served as counsel under the direction of Clarence Thomas at the US Department of Education and then at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 1991, she testified at the Senate confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas. She gained national exposure when her allegations of sexual harassment were made public. She is the author of Speaking Truth to Power, in which she wrote about her experience as a witness in the Thomas hearings. Hill has written widely on issues of race and gender in publications such as the Boston Globe, Critical Race Feminism, Newsweek, the New York Times, and others. She has appeared on 60 Minutes, Face the Nation, Meet the Press, and Today.

The annual Maurine and Robert Rothschild Lecture at the Schlesinger Library was established in 1989 by alumna and former Radcliffe College trustee Maurine Pupkin Rothschild ’40, who died in 2004, and her husband Robert Rothschild ’39. Distinguished speakers in the series have included Angela Davis, Eve Ensler, Julio Frenk, Linda Greenhouse, Samantha Power, Adrienne Rich, Amartya Sen, Reva Siegel, and Maxine Singer.

About the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study is dedicated to creating and sharing transformative ideas across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The Fellowship Program annually supports the work of 50 leading artists and scholars. Academic Ventures fosters collaborative research projects and seminars, and sponsors lectures and conferences to engage scholars with the public. The Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America furthers the Institute’s commitment to the study of women, gender, and society. For more information about the people, ideas, and events of the Radcliffe Institute, visit www.radcliffe.edu.