March, 2024 Portrayal of Elizabeth Packard, The Woman They Could Not Silence
Elizabeth Packard was committed to the Illinois State Hospital in 1860 and was kept under lock and key for three years, all the while protesting her sanity. While her husband insisted to everyone that she was insane, Elizabeth was able to obtain her release. Realizing that current law allowed married women to be placed in asylums by their husbands, Elizabeth started a campaign to change that unjust law. Through her perseverance, her voice was heard.
This timely living history portrayal by Laura F. Keyes shows how, throughout history and even up to the present day, women’s voices are silenced and marginalized when they dare to express opinions contrary to those of the men in power.
May, 2023: Madame Curie: Scientist, Nobel Prize Winner
Live, in person portrayal of Madame Curie. Program co-sponsored by the Des Plaines Public Library and AAUW Northwest Suburban branch. Join storyteller Lynn Rymarz for a dramatic portrayal of Marie Curie. Follow her life’s journey from her childhood in Poland where she showed an early curiosity in science, to her years as a determined student studying in Paris. It leads to her Paris laboratory where she tried and failed at countless experiments before making her scientific breakthrough. She earned the honor of becoming the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. A very interesting program and over 50 people attended.
April, 2022 Book Discussion: The Vanishing Half
Have you read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett?
From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. Book discussion will be guided by Elaine Fisher, president of NW Suburban branch.
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ story lines intersect?
Here are some of the comments about this book. NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE* VANITY FAIR *
“Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” —Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal
“A story of absolute, universal timelessness …For any era, it’s an accomplished, affecting novel. For this moment, it’s piercing, subtly wending its way toward questions about who we are and who we want to be….” – Entertainment Weekly.
AAUW IL Convention, All in for Equity: May 6 – 7, 2022
May 6, 4 pm Friday – Registration
5 pm Happy Hour Social and Convention Opening
Welcome by AAUW-IL President, Lisa Cherry
Keynote by Gloria Blackwell, AAUW CEO: National Update
The Queen of Basketball (Documentary-Short Film)
May 7: Saturday Keynote Speaker – Julie Strauss, PhD
Social Media: How is it Transforming our Democracy?
Julie received her Ph.D. in American Politics from Northwestern University. Her dissertation examined the unique role women members of Congress have had on public policy. Prior to entering graduate school, Julie spent two years on Capitol Hill working for elected officials. She received her undergraduate degree in social science from Wesleyan University. She currently lives in Evanston with her husband and two children.
Taking Theory to Reality: DEI Panel
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training is offered in many settings. What does it take to
move DEI training from theory to reality? What does it take to have effective policy and programs in government, schools, and businesses? Our expert panel will share their experience, knowledge, and practical application of DEI.
Dr. Harriet Hope Lewis, PhD
Founder/CEO of Konensens Development Inc, a boutique consultancy
that furthers equity and inclusion through CRS/DEI training and support,
International trade, and tourism development.
Dr. Rebecca Gordan, EdD
Assistant VP of for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at North Central College.
Dr. Geneace Williams, JD, PhD
Diversity Equity and Inclusion Manager of the City of Naperville.
Dr. Donna Kiel, EdD
Professor in the Department of Leadership, Language, and Curriculum at DePaul.
Lunch & Business meeting, awards, officer election and public policy reports (including the ERA).
Challenges to Intellectual Freedom: It’s not just about banning books, American Library Association
Branch Development: Using AAUW’s Mission to Gain Community Recognition, the Elgin Branch, Naperville Area Branch, and Naperville’s Issues Action Team (I-ACT)
Closing/Wrap Up and Raffle
ERA: How Long Must We Wait?
Sept. Program Recording
Women have been struggling for gender equity in our Constitution ever since Abigail Adams admonished her husband John to “remember the ladies.” Despite federal and state laws, and wide public support, implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment remains elusive, and Courts do not take gender discrimination as seriously as other forms of inequality. Why is this so difficult? Missed the program? Click here for the program recording.
Several court cases are in progress so we wait, but we can thank the IL, VA and NV attorneys general for filing the lawsuit.
What can we do?
Contact the Attorney General’s office to advocate publishing the 28th Amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment.
Contact Vice President Harris since passing the amendment was a campaign promise of hers.
Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and a budget with Paid Family Leave and Childcare.
Presenter: Marti Sladek, retired attorney whose practice was centered on employment discrimination and civil rights. She is a long time ERA activist both independently and through NOW, AAUW, DuPage Democratic Women and the national ERA Coalition. Her experiences with ERA are as varied as discussing our lack of gender equity with a member of the National Assembly while in Cuba, and having dinner with the infamous Phyllis Schlafley. She and other ERA warriors were recognized for their efforts by the Illinois Women’s Leadership Institute in 2018.
Elizebeth Smith Friedman: The Woman Who Smashed Codes
April, 2021
We met via Zoom for a discussion of the life of a truly amazing woman, Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the founder of modern cryptography. In Jan. 2021 PBS AMERICAN EXPERIENCE aired The Codebreaker program about Elizebeth Friedman. It’s available online now via Passport or Amazon Prime. This video program is based on the book, The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies by Jason Fagone.
How does Elizebeth Friedman inspire you or young girls who might enjoy coding? We’ll discuss this fascinating book that begins at the Newberry Library in Chicago!
The codebreaker who spanned two World Wars and took down the rum-running Mafia during Prohibition, including Capone’s brother, single-handedly neutered the German U Boats’ wolf pack, and took down Nazi threats in South America that could have become a southern front against the US. In World War I she cracked the German’s codes. AND she did it with paper and pencil. She started this on the estate of billionaire George Fabyan in suburban Geneva. He had recruited her in the Newberry Library in Chicago. She learned her craft by trial and error. She often fought bias against women and was paid less. But because she was so talented, she was the one who was always called upon, and she often did her work in the shadows, rarely getting the recognition she deserved.
The Woman Who Smashed Codes, A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies
https://www.npr.org/2017/09/30/548666129/from-dinner-parties-to-spy-rings-the-woman-who-smashed-codes-bursts-with-detail
Link to the American Experience, The Codebreaker.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/codebreaker/
March, 2021, Online Zoom Event
Trailblazing Women of Park Ridge
Our chapter will host a ZOOM meeting to learn about the current exhibit at the Park Ridge Historical Society. It features TRAILBLAZING WOMEN OF PARK RIDGE, highlighting the following women: Mother Frances Cabrini, Clara Barck Welles, Hannah Solomon and Hillary Rodham Clinton
After viewing the presentation created by members of the Historical Society, we will have an opportunity to discuss questions with the docent. The event is free of charge and it is open to all invited guests.
February, 2021, Online Zoom Event
Ida B. Wells: Her Life Her Legacy
Author, speaker, and educator, Michelle Duster will discuss the life and legacy of her great-grandmother Ida B. Wells.
Ida B. Wells was born enslaved in 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She became an anti-lynching crusader, suffragist, pioneering journalist, and activist for the protection of Black lives. In 2020, she won a Pulitzer Prize.
January, 2021
Good Mental Kungfu: How to Keep Your Calm in the Chaos
Join Allison Deputy, a 30-year veteran of Tai Chi and mindfulness training for this potentially life-changing workshop. Learn critical techniques to help you weather the storms of these unprecedented days using a powerful, simple meditation technique to release negative energy and infuse positive, healing energy. See how our thoughts and emotions influence our reality.
November, 2020 AAUW Fellows and Grantees
Our four presenting fellows are:
KELLY FAIR, Director, Reflections Foundation awarded a Community Action Grant
PROJECT NAME: Pink Hard Hats- Goal to reduce violence among girls, to reduce violence perpetrated against girls and to replace the school-to-prison pipeline with a school-to-career pipeline. Read more.
MICHELE FRIEDNER, awarded an American Fellowship University of Chicago, Anthropology and archaeology, Postdoctoral program
PROJECT NAME: Becoming Normal, Deafness, Cochlear Implants, and Sense Infrastructures in India. Read more.
KATE BRUNK, Director, YWCA McLean County awarded a Community Action Grant
PROJECT NAME: YW Strive Program for women who have experienced incarceration, providing skills and education to reduce barriers to gainful employment. Read more.
MARQUITTA DORSEY, awarded an American Fellowship Loyola University Chicago, Social Work, Publication Grant
PROJECT NAME: Elevating the Voices of Black Adolescent Females about Sexual Health & Sexual Activity Read more.
Sponsored by Chicago Inc. branch in partnership with the Jane Addams Online branch of AAUW
November, 2020:
Women Filmmakers & Supporting Women Artists, sponsored by AAUW Jane Addams Branch. The program features a review of recommended films by women filmmakers. Plus suggestions of how we can support women artists.
Presenter: Susan Santha Kerns is an Associate Professor of Cinema and Television Arts at Columbia College, where she teaches courses in cinema studies, producing, and distribution at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She is also Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Chicago Feminist Film Festival, and author of a recently published article, “Can’t I Just be a Filmmaker? Women’s and Feminist Film Festivals’ Resurgence in a Postfeminist World,” in the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminism.
Program description:
This program presents an overview that follows women in American film history and how they have been pushed in and out of the industry during different times and includes modern trends in the film industry. Learn about some terrific contemporary films and women filmmakers, and how we can support women artists.
December 2020: Holiday Party Zoom Social: Herstory Trivia Game. A virtual holiday social event promoting the Oakton Community College Scholarship. “Herstory Trivia Game” with questions about historical women of achievement,shows we watched, and discussed virtually. Elaine already has 25 trivia questions! Invite a friend! There will be prizes! Mark the date on your calendar and invite a friend who might join our branch.
PREVIOUS EVENTS:
October through November 2020 Get out and VOTE!
If you are planning to return your ballot by US postal service, mail it as early as possible or by Oct. 20. The alternative is to drop your ballot (in the signed envelope) in a secure ballot collection box.
If you don’t trust the US Post Office to deliver your ballot, you can deliver your ballot to a secure ballot collection box at the following locations beginning Oct. 19.
Des Plaines Public Library
1501 Ellinwood Street
Des Plaines 60016
Mount Prospect Village Hall
50 S. Emerson Street
Mount Prospect 60056
Niles Village Hall
1000 Civic Center Drive
Niles 60714
Park Ridge City Hall
505 Butler Place
Park Ridge 60068
October, 2020 Equal Chicago Hosting Latina Equal Pay Day
Facebook event link: https://fb.me/e/1w6qnXRIn
While on average, women earn 82¢ for every $1.00 men earn, women of color routinely experience much wider wage gaps due to the compounding effects of gender and racial discrimination. COVID-19 threatens to widen those disparities. Join us on #LatinaEqualPay Day, the last equal pay day of the year, for a virtual event with Chicago leaders on working women, COVID-19, and the racial and gender pay disparities that continue to exist in our country.
FEATURING:
Illinois State Rep. Anna Moeller;
Cherita Ellens, President and CEO of Women Employed;
Linda Xóchitl Tortolero, President and CEO of Mujeres Latinas en Acción;
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza;
Moderator: Kelly Saulsberry, Director of Policy and Outreach for the Chicago Commission on Human Rights.
This event will be livestreamed on Facebook Thursday, October 29 from 4-5PM
The Equal Pay Day Chicago coalition and our partners are working to lift up the voices and experiences of women of color in conversations about the wage gap. That’s why this year, we are holding Chicago’s annual equal pay event on Latina Equal Pay Day in recognition of the fact that we cannot close the wage gap until ALL women are paid equitably.
October, 2020
Virtual Tours of the RBG Exhibit at Illinois Holocaust Museum; various times; cost is $10 per person, payable at time of registration; www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/pubtours/
Based on the New York Times bestselling book and Tumblr page of the same name, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the first-ever museum exhibition focused solely on this judicial icon, whose image graces mugs, t-shirts, posters, and bobbleheads. The exhibit is a vibrant exploration of Justice Ginsburg’s life and her numerous, often simultaneous roles as a student, wife, mother, lawyer, judge, women’s rights pioneer, and Internet phenomenon. Whether you’re a fan or a legal scholar, don’t miss this blockbuster exhibit!
This exhibition was developed by Associate Curator at Los Angeles Skirball Cultural Center, Cate Thurston, in partnership with Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, co-authors of the New York Times bestselling book, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Oakton College Women’s Virtual Art Exhibit: Where Are We Now? Activism of the Everyday
This exhibit will be available online from Oct. 19 – Nov. 20. According to their website, “This year’s exhibition thoughtfully examines how women have continued to evolve and change. Topics include: women as global citizens, providers, voters entering an election year, lovers, activists and individuals. Furthermore, the art show will explore where women are headed and why it matters.”
Monday, Oct. 27, 7:00 p.m., we will have an online branch discussion of these the RBG exhibit and Oakton Community College virtual art exhibit and will also share voting experiences and progress encouraging others to vote. The Zoom link will be sent prior to the date.
Thursday, August 27, 2020 7:30-8:30 pm.
Book discussion The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss
New date and time! Updated invitation to register for the August 27th 7:30 – 8:30 pm AAUW program – a book discussion of The Woman’s Hour – The Great Fight to Win the Vote.
Elaine Fisher and Harriet Lindstrom, will lead the book discussion. Read the thrilling story of the struggle to win adoption of the women’s suffrage amendment – the fight for the right to vote in the last state needed, Tennessee. Leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the Anti-Suffrage Association, and the National Woman’s Party. In addition, there is lobbying activity by the tobacco and alcohol industries. The decision was not certain until the final vote.
Will you join us to learn about the fight for Votes for Women?
Here are a couple questions to think about as you read the book:
- Which of the three national organizations would you have joined if you had lived in 1910?
- Carrie Catt believed women voters would bring about an end to war. Do you think women voters have improved our political systems?
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
The Vote, American Experience, on WTTW July 6 & July 7 at 8 pm
The Vote tells the dramatic story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, a transformative cultural and political movement that resulted in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history. In its final decade, movement leaders wrestled with contentious questions about the most effective methods for affecting social change, debating the use of militant and even violent tactics. Exploring how and why millions of 20th century Americans mobilized for – and against – women’s suffrage, “The Vote” brings to life the unsung leaders of the movement and the deep controversies over gender roles and race that divided Americans then, and continues to dominate political discourse today.
Discussion of the PBS programs: Zoom meetings on July 14 (Tues.) 7 – 8:30 pm
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Women Who Broke Barriers Zoom Discussion
Documentaries on WTTW:
Marian Anderson: Once in a Hundred Years
Monday, June 8, at 9:30 pm
Mae West: American Masters
Tuesday, June 16, at 8:00 pm
Great Performances: Ann (Richards)
Friday, June 19, at 9:00 pm
Toni Morrison: American Masters
Tuesday, June 23, at 8:00 pm
Great Performances: Gloria (Steinem): A Life
Friday, June 26, at 9:00 pm
The discussion of these PBS programs: Zoom meetings on June 30, 7-8:30 pm.
May/June 2020
Since so much of our program year has been canceled and we are all sitting at home now, the NW Suburban AAUW board has decided to put together a “virtual” end of year program. We will be viewing and discussing the new miniseries Mrs. America. If you haven’t seen the write-ups it is about the movement to ratify the ERA in the 70’s and prominently follows Phyllis Schlafly as she organizes against the movement. It is a nine part series hosted by Hulu.
Hulu is a streaming service that you can watch from your computer or TV (if you can figure that out!) Each installment is about an hour long. Hulu has a introductory offer of a month free and also has other packages to chose from. Here is some information about how to use Hulu: https://help.hulu.com/s/article/hulu-sign-up?language=en_US
Participants will watch the series at home (like preparing for book club) and come together via Zoom for discussion on three dates to discuss three segments each time. We are planning for 1- 1 ½ hour discussions. If you need help with Hulu or Zoom please let me know and I will try to help you! Cindy cgrau8@gmail.com
Join us for one, two or all three discussions!
Schedule:
Wednesday, May 20 at 7pm
Episode 1: Phyllis
Episode 2: Gloria
Episode 3: Shirley
Wednesday, June 3 at 7pm
Episode 4: Betty
Episode 5: Phyllis & Fred & Brenda & Marc
Episode 6: Jill
Wednesday, June 17 at 7pm
Episode 7: Bella
Episode 8: Houston
Episode 9: Reagan
Discussion: Mrs. America
Time: May 20, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Every other week on Wed, until Jun 17, 2020, 3 occurrence(s)
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Annual Meeting – Canceled
Reading Group
Fourth Tuesday evening from September – May
We meet in members’ homes and read a variety of genres of books.