Talks@EHC: The Great Mothers-Awakening & the Struggle for Disability Rights

Talks@EHC: The Great Mothers-Awakening & the Struggle for Disability Rights

with Warren Rosenblum

Sunday, November 1, 4:30pm

Free & Open to all. Scroll down to RSVP

In-person event
At the Evanston History Center
225 Greenwood Evanston, IL

The struggle for disability rights conjures images of protestors waving signs, banging drums, and occupying government buildings.  But a largely unheralded element in the disability rights movement concerns the role of parents – mothers in particular – in quietly standing up for their intellectually disabled children. In Chicago and the North Shore, in the 1960s and 1970s, mothers increasingly refused their doctors’ advice to send their sons and daughters away to far-off institutions. Instead, they called for integration and acceptance in churches, schools, and clubs and associations right here at home. In doing so, they helped drive a historic change in public attitudes toward disability.

This talk looks at the struggles and achievements of parents of intellectually disabled children in this period of change and relates it to the larger challenge of creating a culture of tolerance and human rights in Evanston and worldwide.

Warren Rosenblum is a professor of history at Webster University in St. Louis and a proud Evanston native. He has published widely on the history of social reform and has taught the History of Disability in various unlikely spots around the world. He was recently a Fulbright Scholar at the Catholic University in Belgium and currently serves on the board of Shore Community Services.

Presented in collaboration with Shore Community Services in its 75th anniversary year.

Through our community’s generosity, we can offer these free programs! Please consider donating $10 to support our ongoing free public programming.

Please click the blue “Going” button below to RSVP. A confirmation email will be sent to the email you registered with.

If you don’t receive a confirmation email, please email Erin Hughes at ehughes@evanstonhistorycenter.org.