Activist and reproductive rights advocate Loretta J. Ross will speak on “Calling In at a Time of Political Division” and how it fits into the current political landscape and the human rights movement on Oct. 23 from 2-4 p.m. in Carney Auditorium, Furcolo Hall. The event is sponsored by the Office of Equity and Inclusion and UMass Community, Democracy and Dialogue; an RSVP is required to attend. 

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Ross teaches a course on “White Supremacy, Human Rights and Calling In the Calling Out Culture” as a visiting associate professor at Smith College. Since beginning her academic career in 2017, she has taught at Hampshire College, Arizona State University and Smith College as a visiting professor of clinical practice teaching courses on subjects such as white supremacy in the age of Trump, race and culture in America, and reproductive justice. She is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.

Her activism began at 16 when she was tear-gassed at a demonstration as a first-year student at Howard University in 1970. As part of a 50-year history in social justice activism, she was the national coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective from 2005–12, and co-created the theory of reproductive justice in 1994. Ross was national co-director of the April 25, 2004, March for Women’s Lives in Washington D.C., the largest protest march (1.15 million participants) in U.S. history at that time.

Ross is founder and former executive director of the National Center for Human Rights Education. Before that, she was the program research director at the Center for Democratic Renewal/National Anti-Klan Network, where she led projects researching hate groups and working against all forms of bigotry with universities, schools and community groups. She launched the Women of Color Program for the National Organization for Women in the 1980s and was national program director of the National Black Women’s Health Project. She was one of the first African American women to direct a rape crisis center in the 1970s, launching her career by pioneering work on violence against women.

Ross’s talk, which will be livestreamed and recorded, is co-sponsored by UMass Community, Democracy and Dialogue, which aims to help the UMass community navigate challenging, complex and controversial topics in ways that broaden perspectives and diminish polarization. Learn more about the CDD, including upcoming events and information on grants, on the CDD website.