For Immediate Release
Contact: Claudia Smith Brinson, 803-546-1982, or Jan Collins, 803-446-9632
27th Annual ‘I Believe Anita Hill!’
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina provided a startling performance at last week’s Ford-Kavanaugh hearing. This week, the FBI investigates as new leaks about Judge Brett Kavanaugh continue. Soon, the Senate will vote. Throughout, there is “I Believe Anita Hill!”
“I Believe Anita Hill!” is likely the nation’s oldest continuous remembrance of attorney and university professor Hill and her 1991 testimony about sexual harassment by then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The 27th annual “I Believe Anita Hill!” networking event will be held in Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 23.
The first event was held in 1992 as a way to channel the outrage many women felt at how Hill had been treated by the all-white, all-male Judiciary Committee.
Now, the women who host “I Believe Anita Hill!” are following closely the reactions to Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony about an alleged sexual assault, the ongoing FBI investigation of Kavanaugh relating to Ford’s allegations, stories by former classmates of Kavanaugh that allege Kavanaugh’s aggressive behavior when drinking, and Kavanaugh’s angry, partisan statements at the Sept. 27 hearing.
“I Believe Anita Hill!” hosts are keenly aware of the many similarities between the 1991 hearings and this year’s.
Hill, who limits her public engagements, has attended the event three times. In 2016, 750 women and men joined Hill when the networking event celebrated its silver anniversary. She also attended in 1997 and 2011.
The “I Believe Anita Hill!” event has blossomed into a women-supporting-women networking event aimed at helping women be believed and respected. The group, which is nonpartisan, is composed of professional women and activists.
The 100 hosts include lawyers, professors (of women’s studies, history, political science), sexual assault counselors, and providers of support and services to sexual assault survivors.
We have attendees who can speak to Graham’s five-minute outburst and its effect on his re-election in 2020; who can compare aspects of the Hill and Ford testimony; who can speak about the ongoing FBI investigation, who can discuss women’s engagement in #MeToo and the post-hearing developments, and who can reflect on predictions of another “Year of the Woman,” when women are predicted to vote in great numbers for female candidates.
The Oct. 23 event will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 701 Whaley Street in Columbia. Admission is free and open to the public.
For more information, go to https://anitahillparty.com
Want to talk to prominent S.C. women about Hill and Ford or this “Year of the Woman”? Contact us.