The MHS would like to thank everyone who helped make the 2004 Women/War/Work
Conference one of our most successful conference series to date.
August 20 and 21, 2004
Historians have frequently pointed out that the debates that continue today about women and the military obscure the very active roles that American women played both in the country's defense and in its peace movements. The focus of "Women/War/Work" recovers the last century of that history—the period during which issues of civil rights and labor became particularly pronounced. We will bring together researchers from a range of fields, sociologists as well as historians, literary critics as well as political scientists, to generate a discussion that can elucidate the past to inform and consider future directions for policy development.
Presenters will not be reading papers aloud at the conference. Papers will be available for download from this website beginning in June.
Program Schedule
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Friday, 20 August 2004 8:30-9:15 Registration 9:15 Welcome 10:00- 11:45 Session 1: Demanding Work Judith Graham, Independent Scholar, Newton, Mass. "'Strong Minded Women': Nora Saltonstall's Service at the Front in World War I." Michele Midori Fillion, Producer, "Hurry Up Sister Productions," New York, NY "Coolness under Fire: The Women War Correspondents of WWII," a one-hour made for television documentary, currently in pre-production. Ann Kelsey, Associate Director, Learning Resource Center, County College of Morris, N.J. "War Zone Diversions: An Overview of Women Volunteers in Civilian Staffed Recreation Programs in Vietnam." 11:30-1:15 Session 2: Civilian Life in the Bay State TBA: Women workers in the Charlestown Navy Yard. Kimberley Phillips, Associate Professor of History and American Studies, the College of William and Mary Black women and the USO, including the fight against segregation in the Boston USO during WWII. Virginia Hurley, Massachusetts Chapter of the Gold Star Wives of America, Cambridge, Mass. TBA: history of Gold Star Wives with emphasis on economic impact of government policy on WWII widows. 1:30-2:30 Lunch 3:00-5:00 Roundtable: Women Who Served Joanne Keenan, served with WAVES during WWII Nancy Mayo-Smith, went overseas with Red Cross during WWII Susan O'Neill, served in Vietnam Glynis Phillips, served during Desert Storm Mary Quinn, served in Korea and Vietnam Ann Wood-Kelly, flew transport for British ATA during WWII 5:30-6:30 Keynote: Jacki Lyden, Senior Correspondent, National Public Radio "Iraq from the Inside Out" A Lowell Institute lecture, free and open to the public 6:30 Reception Saturday, 21 August 2004 8:30-10:15 Session 3: Fighting the Good Fight: Race, Segregation, and Defense, 1898 to 1945 Charles McGraw, doctoral candidate in History, University of Connecticut "The 'Old Colored Aunty' and the 'Up-to-Date Trained Nurse': The Racial Coding of Women's Work during the War of 1898." David Lewis-Coleman, Frederick Douglass Institute for African American Studies, University of Rochester "Victory Men and Women: Gender and the Struggle for Racial Equality in Detroit's Wartime Auto Industry." Brenda L. Moore, Associate Professor of Sociology, State University of New York at Buffalo "Minority Women in the Military during World War II: The Cases of African American and Nisei WACs" 10:30-12:15 Session 4: Framing Narratives of War and Work Margaret Higonnet, Professor of English, University of Connecticut "Snapshots of World War I: The Labor of Finding a Place for Women Who Volunteered to Serve Overseas." Susan Grayzel, Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi "Morale as Women's Work: Mrs. Miniver and the Popular Representation of the Second World War." Frances Early, Professor of History, Mt. St. Vincent University "Reframing the War Narrative: The Voice of Women of Canada and the Opposition to the Vietnam War." 12:30-1:45 Lunch 2:00-3:30 Session 5: Race, Sexuality, and Respectability Elizabeth Hillman, Assistant Professor of Law, Rutgers School of Law at Camden "Women in Combat: Guarding Nation and Self, World War II to Iraq." Katharine H. S. Moon, Associate Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College Title TBA: Professor Moon's research studies the female sex workers in the brothels around U.S. bases in Korea and the impact of that interaction on Korean nationalism and on the women's lives. |
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