AMES, Iowa -- Mary Frances Berry, former chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and a founder of the 1980s' Free South Africa Movement, will speak at Iowa State University as part of the National Affairs Series, "How Will America Change?" Her speech, "Gender and Race After the 2008 Campaign," will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. It is free and open to the public.
Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where she teaches the history of American law, and the history of law and social policy. She is the author of seven books, including "The Pig Farmer's Daughter and Other Tales of American Justice: Episodes of Racism and Sexism in the Courts from 1865 to Present" (1999) and "The Politics of Parenthood: Child Care, Women's Rights and the Myth of the Good Mother" (1993).
Berry served as assistant secretary for education during President Jimmy Carter's administration. In 1980, she was named to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and served as chairperson from 1993-2004. Previously, she was a provost at the University of Maryland, College Park, and chancellor of the University of Colorado, Boulder. A co-founder of the Free South Africa Movement, Berry was in Capetown to meet Nelson Mandela on the day he was released from prison.
In recognition of her scholarship and public service, Berry has received 32 honorary doctoral degrees and many awards, including the NAACP's Roy Wilkins Award, the Rosa Parks Award of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Ebony Magazine Black Achievement Award. She was one of 75 women featured in "I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America," a 1989 photo-essay exhibition and book.
Berry received bachelor's and master's degrees from Howard University, Washington, D.C., and doctoral and law degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The lecture is cosponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Miller Lecture Fund, the National Affairs Committee and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by the Government of the Student Body.
