The National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas, brought delegates and dignitaries to our city in 1977. How can we bring back an important historical moment, complete with implications and issues that are still pertinent today? That’s what Nancy Beck Young and Leandra Zarnow, UH history professors working through the Center for Public History, along with Peggy Lindner, professor in the UH College of Technology, set out to determine.
They decided that a comprehensive digital humanities website would highlight the Conference and its impact on the city best. Journalists, dignitaries and notable activists attended this monumental event. Young knew there was a plethora of information available about the Conference, but organizing and building a system to ensure it was searchable was a tricky thing. Lindner contributed her expertise in building digital archival systems while Young and Zarnow brought their background as historians to the project.
The project will show new things using digital methodologies – for instance, one aspect of the project will gather together all participants at the Conference and will list what organizations they were affiliated with, where they went to college, if they were married, if they ran for political office, how long their terms were served, etc. Even oral histories will be collected in the repository. The site will remain publicly accessible, never behind a paywall, and the greater Houston community will be the target audience.
“The Conference and the issues it raised became an inflection point in the political story of the United States in notable ways,” said Young. An example is that Ann Richards, future governor of Texas, attended and was a local office holder in Travis County at the time of the conference. “It demonstrates how even then, women were envisioning what was possible in the realm of public service,” said Young.
The way we talk about sex and gender may be different today than in 1977, but many of the same concerns remain. Violence against women, childcare and healthcare are all issues that we still struggle with. One of the startling observations made by the professors was that some of the speeches — for instance, the one given by Barbara Jordan, one of the keynote speakers — could have just as easily been given today. Women are still facing inequalities and this database will hopefully highlight the places we can make progress in the women’s rights arena.
