The Chicago Area Women's History Council will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a party and program Sunday, Oct. 16, 2-6 p.m. at Prairie Productions, 1314 W. Randolph Street. The event is titled "Celebrating Women's Activism: Why History Matters."
There will be an update on CAWHC's documenting women's activism and leadetship project, a photo exhibit by Dorothea Jacobson-Wenzel, a women's movement posters exhibit courtesy of Rebecca Sive, music by Belinda and Maritza Cervantes of Luna Blues Machine and a reception with Nueva Latino cuisine.
There is also a panel with women activists sharing their stories of women's history. Panelists are: Tracy Baim, publisher of Windy City Times; Heather Booth, activist and president of Midwest Academy; Jacky Grimshaw, activist and vice president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology; Maria Pesquiera, executive director of Mujeres Latinas en Accion; and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Moderator is Cheryl Johnson-Odim, provost of Dominican University. Also speaking will be historian Rima Lunin Schultz, co-editor of Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary.
The Chicago Area Women's History Council is a non-profit, volunteer organization founded in 1971 to support women's history in the Chicago area. They are a network of historians, archivists, teachers, public historians, media professionals, writers, artists, activists and scholars from many disciplines.
CAWHC's current project, Documenting Women's Activism and Leadership in Chicago, 1945-2000, is identifying and preserving resources to document women's contributions during this period, with a particular emphasis on the Chicago women's movement of the 1960s-1980s. This grassroots effort brings together scholars, archivists, activists and community leaders to uncover hidden material that will be used to update the research they undertook in producing Women Building Chicago, A Biographical Dictionary, 1970-1990.
See www.cawhc.org .
