Marshall University’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies will present the 2023 Charlotte Schmidlapp Distinguished Lecture in Women’s Studies Wednesday, March 29, at 7 p.m. in the Don Morris Room in the Memorial Student Center.
Mikki Kendall, the New York Times best-selling author of Hood Feminisms: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot and the author of Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights, will be the featured speaker. Her lecture, “Multimodal Feminisms of the Future,” is sponsored by Fifth Third Bank and the Schmidlapp Family.
Dr. Hilary Brewster, associate professor of English and the director of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program, says Kendall’s works present a great look at feminism.
“I read Hood Feminism this past summer, and instantly thought to myself, ‘I want her to come to campus as my Schmidlapp!’ Her ideas about women and gender and specific populations was an immediate connection to my students, my friends, anyone living in Appalachia, really,” Brewster said.
Kendall has been featured in TIME, The Washington Post, Salon, MSNBC, Good Morning America and the Daily Show, among many others. She’s an author, activist and cultural critic. Her work often focuses on media representation, events, food and the history of feminism.
“Ms. Kendall is an absolutely fantastic ‘get’ for us—most people don’t understand the concept of speaker fees, and why would you? I didn’t! Mikki and her team at Gotham Artists could not have been more helpful and generous when working with me to figure out how to bring her to campus. During our initial Zoom meeting, Mikki expressed how excited she was to actually come to West Virginia—and not just drive through on her way back home from another gig. We are beyond lucky!” Brewster said.
Kendall was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood. For more information contact Brewster at brewsterh@marshall.edu. The event is free and open to the public and includes a reception.