Jo Freeman, Author at Public Seminar

Activism

March for Our Lives Rallies on DC Mall

A photo essay

June 13, 2022 • by Jo Freeman

Twenty thousand people rallied on the DC Mall on June 12 to denounce gun violence. Organized by March for Our Lives, there were major rallies all over the country, in contrast to one very large national rally by this group in 2018. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser was one of many speakers in ...

Activism

Black Women Take Action for Voting Rights and Reproductive Justice

A photo essay

May 29, 2022 • by Jo Freeman

Black Women Take Action took to the streets in front of the Supreme Court on May 25, 2022. Its primary focus is on Voting Rights. BWTA wants Congress to pass H.R. 1, which would expand voting rights and change campaign finance laws. The House passed the bill. The Senate blocked ...

Black Women Take Action for Voting Rights and Reproductive Justice

Activism

Bans Off Our Bodies All Over the Country

The March in DC was one of the Largest

May 16, 2022 • by Jo Freeman

Roughly 20,000 people rallied and marched in Washington, D.C. for abortion rights. It was one of five hundred rallies of varying sizes around the country. Covid has discouraged travel, so people protest at home, which makes numbers harder to add up. Before the march, there was a rally on the ...

Bans Off Our Bodies All Over the Country

Activism

Young Women Rally for Abortion outside Supreme Court

A photo essay

May 9, 2022 • by Jo Freeman

Roughly a hundred young women gathered outside the Supreme Court on May 6 to rally for abortion rights. This was one of several pro-choice demonstrations during the first week of May. In abortion demonstrations last fall, young women were mostly on the pro-life side. Those on the pro-choice side were ...

Young Women Rally for Abortion outside Supreme Court

Politics

Race and Redistricting

Gerrymandering is old, but the prohibition of racial gerrymandering is a legacy of the Civil Rights Movement’s success

March 15, 2022 • by Jo Freeman

Eventually, all legislatures conformed to the Supreme Court’s mandate that the only basis for representation was population. States where one party dominated the legislature gerrymandered to consolidate its position. In states with large minority populations which largely voted for one major party and whites the other, party gerrymandering became racial ...

Democracy

In Voting, Demographics Is Often Destiny

Sex, race, religion, and party polarization

January 21, 2022 • by Jo Freeman

In voting, demographics is often destiny. In particular sex, race and religion are primary sources of partisan conflict. Race and religion are long standing themes. Sex, more specifically the role of women and how it affects relationships between the sexes, manifested itself less directly until late in the twentieth century....

Activism

Photo Essay: Abortion Protests at the Supreme Court

Pro-choicers were out-numbered, out-signed, and out-shouted by pro-lifers

December 6, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Several thousand people rallied in front of the Supreme Court on the morning of December 1. Inside, the Court heard oral argument in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Mississippi case which would limit all abortions to no later than 15 weeks. Long before oral arguments started, the pro-lifers ...

Photo Essay: Abortion Protests at the Supreme Court

Activism

White House Rally for Voting Rights

A photo essay

November 23, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

On November 17, roughly 200 people were arrested in front of the White House at a rally for Voting Rights. This was the fifth action in a series of DC protests by a coalition of groups that are pushing for the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill to become law. These groups ...

Activism

Shout Out at the Supreme Court over Abortion

A photo essay

November 2, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Pro-choicers and pro-lifers conducted a non-violent shoving match in front of the Supreme Court, while inside the Court prepared to hear oral argument in the Texas abortion ban. For the most part, only words were used. As is common when there are opposing groups, the U.S. Capitol Police allowed separate ...

Shout Out at the Supreme Court over Abortion

Activism

New Yorkers March for Abortion Justice

A photo essay

October 6, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Women’s Marches are becoming an annual event. The first one in 2017 was to express outrage at pussy grabber Trump’s election. Subsequent ones have varied in substance and style. They have shifted from January to October – which is is a better month for outdoor protest. This year, several hundred ...

Activism

“Justice for J6” Rally Was Much Ado About Nothing

September 22, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Capitol Hill Police, who were under-prepared for the January 6, 2021 riot, were over-prepared for the “Justice for J6 ” rally just west of the reflecting pool at the Capitol on September 18. Tall fences surrounded the Capitol itself. Metal barriers wrapped around the designated protest area. Jersey barriers kept unauthorized ...

“Justice for J6” Rally Was Much Ado About Nothing

Activism

Cut the Pentagon!

Says Code Pink

September 14, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

_____ CopePink brought roughly one hundred people to the White House to demand that the Pentagon’s budget be cut. Joined by other sponsors of the action in Lafayette Park, they cut up a large cake shaped like the Pentagon. Pieces of cake were passed to the crowd while speakers talked about the next ...