Jo Freeman, Author at Public Seminar

Activism

The 2021 Voting Rights March, a Photo Essay

August 28 has become an anniversary to celebrate the accomplishments of African-Americans and to demand more rights

September 1, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

_____ August 28 has become an anniversary to celebrate the accomplishments of African-Americans and to demand more rights. The first one in 1963 was a March for Jobs and Freedom. The latest was a demand for a federal bill to stop state voter suppression laws. The first one brought 250,000 people ...

The 2021 Voting Rights March, a Photo Essay

Activism

Time’s Up for Fossil Fuels

A photo essay

July 2, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Roughly 100 people got up very early on a very hot day to demonstrate against the use of fossil fuels. Mary Crow led everyone in prayer on DC’s Freedom Plaza around 7:30 a.m. Leaving a little after 8:00 a.m., different groups walked to five different locations around the ellipse and ...

Activism

Georgia On My Mind

The Democratic Party in Georgia has come a long way since the 1965 Voting Rights Act

January 28, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

“The concept of political equality...can mean only one thing—one person, one vote." ...

Democracy

How to Suppress the Vote

One of the Constitution’s original provisions, delegating elections to the states, haunts us today

November 2, 2020 • by Jo Freeman

There has been a lot of talk in the last few months about vote suppression. Both Democrats and Republicans are accusing the other of an action that, we can all agree, is reprehensible. But vote suppression is nothing new. It has a long and (dis)honorable tradition reaching back to the founding ...

Activism

A Tale of Three Protests — in Brooklyn

A photo-essay

June 29, 2020 • by Jo Freeman

On Saturday, May 30, I heard that a crowd was at Bedford and Tilden in Flatbush near the Sears parking lot where Covid-19 testing has been conducted for several weeks. When I got there at about 5:30 p.m, I saw two to three hundred people milling in the street. They had ...

Activism

The Women’s March 2020

Rain, sleet and snow did not dampen enthusiasm

January 21, 2020 • by Jo Freeman

Roughly 20,000 people marched in Washington DC for the fourth time. Despite the poor weather forecast, they came from hundred’s of miles away. Others planned to come, but changed their minds when the roads became icy. In DC, nothing happened as planned. At a press conference held in Freedom Plaza the ...

Activism

Fonda’s Firedrill Fridays

December 28, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

Each features a rally on the southeast quadrant of the Capitol lawn followed by a short march and mass civil disobedience in a different location. The theme varies. On November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving) it was Food Justice and Agriculture. On December 20 it was it was Health. Held the day before ...

Politics

The Equal Rights Amendment is BAAACK!

The Democratic House returns to a long-awaited Constitutional fix

November 22, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

First introduced into Congress in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was intended to do away with the plethora of state laws which restricted women's property rights, disadvantaged them under state family laws, or barred them from holding office or serving on juries. Proposed by the National Woman’s Party, it ...

Activism

Federalist Society Fêtes Kavanaugh

While protestors call for impeachment

November 20, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

Copyright: Jo Freeman Sponsored by the Center for Popular Democracy and Demand Justice, they explained why Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh should be removed from the Supreme Court for lying under oath at his confirmation hearing over a year ago. Copyright: Jo Freeman In the background, the voice of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford could ...

Multi Media

What is Sex Discrimination?

That was the question before the Supreme Court on October 8

October 18, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

"Sex" is one of the protected categories in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment. The Court agreed to hear three cases on whether Title VII protects gay, lesbian and transgender employees after three Circuit Courts of Appeal made conflicting decisions. plaintiffs and their lawyers in ...

Multi Media

Kavanaugh Redux

October 14, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

Exactly one year after Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as the newest Justice on the Supreme Court, about three hundred of his opponents rallied in front of the Supreme Court. Copyright © 2019 by Jo Freeman This time the theme was Reclaim the Court. Signs were less concerned with sexual harassment than last ...

Feature

Elizabeth Warren at Washington Square Park

Warren wows the crowd

September 21, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

Thousands came to cheer when she spoke in Washington Square Park Monday night. Washington Square Park is a difficult place to hold a large rally, with its big fountain in the middle and lots of closed off spaces for special activities. But the Arch on the northern boundary makes a great backdrop. At ...