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Oct 20, 2010 · A recap of the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings, where Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment and he denied it. The article also reports on a recent voicemail message from Thomas' wife, asking Hill for an apology.
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The uncomfortable spectacle of the hearings reverberated across the nation and had lasting consequences.
In October 1991, Americans were riveted by the spectacle of an all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee questioning Anita Hill, the African-American law professor who had accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
TV viewers, both male and female, watched in increasing discomfort as the senators asked Hill about large-breasted women, a porn star named Long Dong Silver and pubic hair on a Coke can, among other previously unthinkable subjects for a Senate committee hearing.
But for women, Hill’s testimony would have special significance, as it was the first time someone had so publicly shared her account of workplace harassment—something that so many of them had experienced.
Though the committee would eventually confirm Thomas, making him only the second Black man to serve on the Supreme Court, the impact of Hill’s televised testimony would reverberate dramatically across the nation, with lasting consequences that endure today.
“I think women saw play out, in the most human terms, Anita Hill—credible and very much reflecting the experiences of so many other women—being demeaned, being dismissed and being mistreated by an array of male senators,” says Marcia Greenberger, founder and co-president emerita of the National Women’s Law Center. “And when they reflected upon it at the end of the hearings, their anger began to rise, and their determination to do something about it began to increase.”
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Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991, sparking a national debate and changing the conversation about workplace misconduct. Learn how her testimony influenced the Civil Rights Act, the Year of the Woman and the #MeToo movement.
- Sarah Pruitt
Hill was the subject of the 2013 documentary film Anita by director Freida Lee Mock, which chronicles her experience during the Clarence Thomas scandal. [ 92 ] The actor Kerry Washington portrayed Hill in the 2016 HBO film Confirmation .
Sep 27, 2021 · Professor Anita Hill is sworn-in before testifying at the Senate Judiciary hearing on the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination. Miss Hill testified on her charges of alleged sexual harassment ...
- 7 min
- Danielle Genet,Dominick Proto,Sean Sanders,Jade Anderson
Oct 1, 2021 · Anita Hill, who testified against Clarence Thomas in 1991, reflects on her journey and the challenges of ending gender violence in America. She shares her views on the Supreme Court, the Senate Judiciary Committee and President Biden.
Sep 19, 2018 · September 3, 1991: Hill was first approached by the Judiciary Committee and was invited to provide background information on Thomas because she had worked with him, according to a New York Times ...
Sep 28, 2021 · In 1991, attorney Anita Hill testified that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her when he was chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and she worked there as ...
