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Events
Jan. 9 | Call for papers: Identities and Technocultures
A 2-day conference about American culture and technologies that examines how new technologies dominate and define Americaness in the US and abroad. Co-sponsored by the University of Iowa Center for Ethnic Studies and the Arts (CESA) and the Mid-America American Studies Association (MAASA).
Resources: Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations
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Coffey, Marion J. "Conceiving a Social Movement: Pro Choice Organizing Post-Roe v Wade," American Civilization, Brown University, May 2001.
The 1973 Supreme Court decision in the case of Roe v. Wade marked the beginning of a virulent war in America surrounding abortion rights. In the decades following Roe, pro-choice and pro-life groups engaged in a continuous struggle, forming organized and lasting social movements These movements operated on the national, state and local levels in a variety of ways. The pro-choice movement was especially diverse in its organizing strategies because of a series of legal defeats following Roe. These defeats compelled the pro-choice movement to mobilize on several fronts. Pro-choice movement activists engaged in litigation, built national, state, and local advocacy institutions, formed grass roots clinic escort collectives, and organized medical students, who, as future physicians, could someday provide abortion services. This dissertation analyzes these four organizing tactics adopted by the pro-choice movement. Four case studies are presented using a combination of written documents and oral histories of participants within both the pro-choice and pro-life movements. Of central concern is how the pro-choice movement configured itself following a major 1973 judicial victory and in defensive response to a powerful and organized counter attack by pro-lifers.
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