Women’s History Month events offered
University of Detroit Mercy is celebrating Women’s History Month with a series of events highlighting the contributions of women around the world.
All events are open to everyone.
March 19 — Aftershock Screening and Discussion, 5:30 p.m., Life Sciences 113
Following the preventable deaths of their loved ones due to childbirth complications, two families galvanize activists, birth-workers and physicians to reckon with one of the most pressing American crises of our time — the U.S. maternal health crisis. Join the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program for a screening of the film followed by a discussion led by faculty from the McAuley School of Nursing.
March 21 — 'The Art of (Not) Forgetting,' 12:45-2 p.m., Zoom
"The Art of (Not) Forgetting" is the name of the lecture and photobook by Belarusian essayist, photographer and memory researcher Olga Bubich. In this talk, she will share her reflections on memory wars — a phenomenon we can see unfolding in different parts of the world — providing examples from the recent history of Belarus and the region, namely Russia, where nostalgia is used as a propaganda tool and misremembering — as an ideological strategy. The photobook in the center of Olga's speech is a collection of portraits and two types of memories of Belarusian women and LGBTQ+ people in the first half of 2021, the original art project that triggered her interest in memory as a familiar subject of the elusive nature of which is often taken for granted. Sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Office of Title IX and the McNichols Campus Library.
March 28 — The Zekelman Holocaust Center, Black Heroines of World War II, 7 p.m. , Zoom
As spies, nurses, and clandestine couriers, Black French women played vital, overlooked roles in the anti-Nazi war effort. Paulette Nardal issued a call to arms against fascism in the 1930s. Eugénie Éboué-Tell joined the women’s auxiliary corps in Central Africa. Jane Vialle, an operative for Combat in Southern France, was arrested in 1943 for treason, but survived and became a senator. Josephine Baker’s fight against Hitler’s Regime from Berlin to Portugal has earned her a place in the Pantheon of French heroism.
Annette Joseph-Gabriel is the John Spencer Bassett Associate Professor of Romance Studies and associate professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies at Duke University. She is the author of Reimagining Liberation: How Black Women Transformed Citizenship in the French Empire (University of Illinois Press 2020).
Ongoing — Women of UDM History exhibit, McNichols Campus Library
Stop by the McNichols Campus Library through March to see the Women's History Month exhibit featuring a glimpse of a few of the many women who have made history both inside and outside of the University. Highlights include Mercy College presidents, an RSM turned director of the Michigan Department of Social Services, and a sometimes-controversial feminist biblical scholar. FemCo (aka the Feminist Coalition), a UDM student group that advocates on behalf of intersectional feminism, along with the Women's and Gender Studies program, are cosponsors of this exhibit.