Anita Hill, 20 Years Later: Sex, Power, and Speaking Truth

 A few weeks ago, while discussing the “waves” of feminism in the United States, I asked my Women’s Studies 101 students who had heard of Anita Hill.  Sadly, only one (out of about fifty) had even a vague idea of who she is and/or why she is well known. 

Next week marks the 20^th anniversary of Hill’s testimony before the Senate Confirmation Committee that convened to question and confirm (or deny) Clarence Thomas as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court.  

On this day in 1991, The New York Times first reported that Hill had accused Thomas of sexually harassing her when they worked together at the DOE and the EEOC:

In 1981, the time cited by Professor Hill, Judge Thomas headed the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education and she was his personal assistant.
In her affidavit, Congressional officials said, Professor Hill said that typically after a brief discussion of work, Judge Thomas would turn the conversations to discussions about his sexual interests. She described his remarks as vivid as he discussed sexual acts he had seen in pornographic films.

Professor Hill, the officials continued, said Judge Thomas, who was separated from his first wife at the time, dropped the sexual talk when he began dating someone else. Since the remarks had stopped, she said, she accepted an offer to follow him as a personal assistant when he became chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. There, she said, he soon resumed his advances.

Hill’s testimony began four days later, on October 11, 1991. 

While the allegations did not stop Thomas’ confirmation (he took the oath of office on October 23, 1991, and will soon celebrate his twentieth year on the bench), the proceedings did bring the discussion of sexual harassment to the forefront of the national discourse.

The hearings also helped to ignite what many refer to as the Third Wave of Feminism in the United States.  Two months after Hill’s testimony, Ms. Magazine published Rebecca Walker’s response to the hearings and subsequent call to action “Becoming the Third Wave” in an issue titled Rage + Women = Power.

In honor of this twenty year anniversary, Hunter College, New York City, is hosting the conference: Sex, Power and Speaking Truth: Anita Hill 20 Years Later:  “The conference will bring together three generations to witness, respond and analyze present day realities in law, politics, the confluence of race, class and gender, the persistent questioning of women’s credibility, issues of black masculinity and current cases of sexual harassment.” Professor Hill is both the keynote speaker and the honoree.