A brief history of the Speaking Truth to Power Celebration
In 1991, the country was mesmerized by University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill as she testified at the confirmation hearings of then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. In mid-October of that year, millions of Americans were riveted to their television sets late into the night to see Anita Hill and others give live testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Women were outraged and men were bemused as a very poised Professor Hill described a pattern of sexual harassment by Thomas, who a decade earlier had been her boss and head of the Office of Civil Rights at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The resulting outrage that women felt started with the experience that Anita Hill described, and continued with the disparaging treatment she received from Senate Judiciary Committee members on live TV. Men tended to disbelieve her story, or alternatively, believed that she had condoned Thomas’s behavior when she neither filed any formal complaint nor quit working for him. Women, on the other hand, got it. Many, if not most women had either experienced sexual harassment first-hand or had known someone who had experienced such treatment. These women understood the dilemma of responding to sexual harassment, taking into consideration the effect on both personal life and career.
A group of local women who shared the outrage wanted to channel the energy of those women. Early efforts involved women’s policy work, lobbying on women’s issues, and organizing political campaigns. The first Anita Hill Wake-Up Call Anniversary Celebration was held in October 1992, one year after the confirmation hearings. Anita Hill joined us for our celebration in 1997 while she was promoting her autobiography, “Speaking Truth to Power.” She also joined us in 2011 and again in 2016 for our silver anniversary.
In 2022, the Anita Hill Celebration became Speaking Truth to Power: Celebrating Anita Hill and the Next Generation. This celebration is an annual reminder of the outrage, of the different perspectives of men and women, of the need for more women in politics and other policy-making positions, and of the need to get involved, stay involved, and stay in contact with other strong women of all ages and backgrounds. Thank you for helping us pave the wave for the next generation of women speaking truth to power. At the close of the 32nd Anita Hill Party, hosts concluded it was time for a new generation of women and men to take the lead on supporting change. We thank everyone for your support over these 32 years, even those of you who were too young to know what Professor Hill went through in 1991.