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“It is only after a great deal of agonizing consideration that I am able to talk of these unpleasant matters . . . “
Those were the words of American lawyer Anita Faye Hill three decades ago, when she calmly stood before the US Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 and accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
“Telling the world is the most difficult experience of my life,” she said.
With her testimony, Hill was thrust into the national spotlight, both admired and reviled. You can watch her testify here, and read her testimony here.
In the years since, she’s been an outspoken speaker and activist, using her visibility and voice to speak out against sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
Now she’s written a new book, Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence, calling for a national reckoning and a plan of action. The issue of gender-based violence, she says, is as urgent today as when she testified thirty years ago.
In the book, Hill draws on her years as a teacher, legal scholar, advocate — and of course, survivor.
On October 11, 1991, in nationally televised hearings, Hill testified that Thomas, her supervisor at the US Department of Education and the EEOC, had repeatedly sexually harassed her.
She testified that Thomas asked her out many times during her two years working as his assistant. When she declined his requests, he used work situations — and his power over her as her boss — to discuss embarrassing and humiliating sexual subjects.
After her testimony, the repercussions were swift and brutal.
She left her teaching position at the University of Oklahoma College of Law after relentless calumny and pressure. Since 1998 she’s taught at Brandeis University, where she is a professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies.
Thirty years ago Anita Hill testified reluctantly. Forced into the public eye, she has become a potent advocate, speaking out against all forms of gender-based violence with the authority and authenticity that comes from her own experience.
Here’s just one example: her eloquent speech in November 2018 at USC Dornsife on “putting an end to sexual harassment in the workplace.”
Thank you Anita Hill — for your voice, your courage, and your clarion call for action.
© Copyright 2021
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