The 19th Amendment was an incomplete victory. Black and white women fought hard for voting rights and doubled the number of eligible voters, but the amendment did not enfranchise all women, or even protect the rights of those women who could vote. A century later, women are still grappling with how to use the vote and their political power to expand civil rights, confront racial violence, improve maternal health, advance educational and employment opportunities, and secure reproductive rights. In her book, Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality: 1920-2020, Dr. Elisabeth Griffith recounts the roles of Black and White women as change agents and social justice activists and chronicles their efforts to advance sometimes competing causes.

Dr. Elisabeth Griffith is an author, activist, academic, historian, and authority on women’s lives, past and present. Her biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, In Her Own Right, was named “one of the 15 best books of 1984” and “one of the best books of the century” by the editors of The New York Times Book Review and “one of the five best books on women’s history” by the Wall Street Journal in 2009. In March 2020, Oprah magazine recommended it for women’s history month reading. It inspired Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, Not for Ourselves Alone, on which she served as a consultant.

Dr. Griffith earned her doctorate in history from The American University, a master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University, and a BA with honors in history from Wellesley College. In 1977 she was a Kennedy Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard and in 2001 a Klingenstein Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University. Elected to the Society of American Historians, she is listed in the Directory of American Scholars.

Dr. Griffith has spent her career working for women’s rights as an activist and an academic, teaching women’s history at the secondary and college level and serving as the head of a girls’ school. She has written for the New York Times and the Washington Post and currently teaches courses in women’s history at the Smithsonian Associates and Politics & Prose.

We've all seen the troubling stories and photos of desperate people risking their lives to escape an untenable existence in their home countries to reach what they hope will be safer shores.  Ambassador Thomas Miller will share with us the causes of the refugee crisis, the current situation, what is being done, and what more needs to be done.

A 29-year career diplomat, Tom Miller’s experience in the Foreign Service spanned many continents. From 2001-04, he served as U.S. ambassador to Greece, where he focused on security concerns of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. From 1999-2001, as U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, he worked on helping the country recover after a devastating war. From 1997-99, he was Special Coordinator for the Cyprus negotiations (rank of ambassador). He was also posted to Thailand as well as the State Department in Washington, where he worked on North Africa, the Middle East, and counter-terrorism issues. From 2010 through 2018, Tom served as President/CEO of International Executive Service Corps, a non-profit that provides expertise to developing countries to train in best business practices. From 2005 through 2008, he served as CEO of Plan International, a nongovernmental organization that works in 66 countries to improve the lives of children in developing countries. Since 2011, Tom has served as Chair of the Board of the International Commission on Missing Persons, an internationally acclaimed organization that identifies missing persons by using DNA-matching techniques. Tom has also served on a number of boards including currently on the boards of Partnership for a Secure America (promoting bipartisanship in US foreign policy) and the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board.