[Note #9] Contextualizing Brooks: National Women’s History Month 1990

The role of a Creator in natural history was debated by the men named on the walls of Brooks. All but Huxley found a place for God in their writing. But they did not find a creative place for women. Mary Daly, professor of theology and philosophy, wrote “[Women] have not been free to use our power to name ourselves, the world or God.”[1]

On March 5, 1990, women graduate students and faculty in Anthropology unfurled banners from the third floor of Brooks that named more than 100 noted women in the arts and sciences. The bedsheet banners overwhelmed the 18 stone names in number and diversity, but they did not obscure them.[2]

Brooks is not a simplifying monument, its messages are complex and debated. But it does cry out for contextualization. The banners provided that context by adding to the debates on the walls, and welcoming the feminist critique of science as essential to understanding natural history.

We would do well to consider an equally bold and more permanent representation of these names and ideas in (or around) Brooks Hall today.[3]

From Professor Hantman

[1] Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation, Beacon Press, Boston, 1973

[2] Annette Wannamaker, “Famous Women Recognized for Contributions to Society,” Charlottesville Daily Progress, March 5, 1990. [3] The photo above shows Professor Ellen Contini-Morava in a brief celebration and revival of the original banner action, on the occasion of her retirement in 2019. I thank Ellen Contini-Morava, Abigail Adams, Anna Lawson and Margo Smith, organizers of the 1990 banner display, for their help with this essay.