Virginia Archives - Public Seminar

Literature

The Garden of Wrath

An excerpt from The Oyster Diaries

March 31, 2026 • by Nancy Lemann

Maybe all families are alike on annual beach vacations. Tense. We used to go on an annual vacation with the in-laws to the Southern coast in August. Our destination was an island off the coast of South Carolina. I-95 was horrendous driving down from Washington on a Friday after work, the ...

We Still Need the ERA

How Activists Can Learn From History to Win It This Time

January 29, 2020 • by Katherine Turk

To many older feminists, the ERA remains the unfinished business of the 1970s. Today’s gender justice activists should expect to battle the same coalition of corporations and social conservatives that defeated their predecessors in 1982. But to win this time, they must learn from their own history. The ERA is not ...

Not All Rural Republicans Are Created Equal

Why Democrats should be looking to the coalfields

April 11, 2018 • by Meagan Martin

Executive Editor Claire Potter, our normal Purple Wednesday columnist, is off this week; we are pleased to welcome Meagan Martin to Public Seminar in this regularly scheduled slot devoted to bridging political divisions in the United States . Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance was named an essential resource for understanding the 2016 ...