CLASS’ Great Mind Lecture Series Opens with a History of the Women’s Rights Movement

January 5, 2017

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences’ (CLASS) 2017 Great Minds Lecture Series opens with “Wanton Wenches and Nasty Women: Vindicating Women’s Rights from 1792 to 2016” on Jan. 31 at 5:30 p.m. at the Russell Union, room 2047.

Anastatia Sims, Ph.D., from the Department of History will deliver the first of five lectures in the series and will discuss the history of the women’s right movement and its implications today.

“In the late 1700s as cries for liberty, equality, and recognition of the inalienable rights of man swept across America and Europe, Mary Wollstonecraft raised her voice in defense of what seemed to many the most revolutionary idea of all,” Sims said.

Sims will focus on two works (Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of the Woman” and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Address to the Legislature of New-York, Adopted by the State Woman’s Rights Convention”) that are among 30 rare and first edition works from the Remnant Trust that will be on display throughout the spring semester at the Zach S. Henderson Library.

“’When A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ was published in 1792, the belief that women were inferior to men was so firmly entrenched in law, religion, and custom that few people dared to imagine a society in which gender equality was the norm. Wollstonecraft ignited a debate over ‘woman’s place’ that still echoes today,” Sims said.

For more information on the 2017 Great Minds Lecture and to view a full schedule of the lectures please visit cah.georgiasouthern.edu/greatminds.

The Remnant Trust was founded in 1997 and is a Non-Profit 501(c)(3) organization. The Trust makes available to the general public a world class collection of manuscripts, 1st and early edition works, for use in original form. The mission of The Remnant Trust is to elevate educational standards & the public’s understanding of individual liberty & human dignity through the precedent setting, hands on availability of the world’s great ideas in original form. For more information on the documents on display at Georgia Southern University please visit georgiasouthern.libguides.com/remnanttrust.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) is the largest of the eight colleges that make up Georgia Southern University, and it plays a central role in every student’s core of knowledge. CLASS, also described as the University’s College of the Creative Mind, prepares students to achieve academic excellence, develop their analytical skills, enhance their creativity and embrace their responsibilities as citizens of their communities, their nations and the world. CLASS offers more than 20 undergraduate degrees and several interdisciplinary minors from its 11 departments and five academic centers. CLASS offers eight master’s degrees, two graduate certificates and one doctoral degree. For more information, visit cah.georgiasouthern.edu.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 125 degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered and hands-on approach to education. GeorgiaSouthern.edu.