History, Memory and Disability Rights:
Creating Inclusive Public Humanities Programs
Saturday, November 19, 2016, 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Rutgers University–Camden
“A regime of state-mandated segregation and degradation soon emerged that in its virulence and bigotry rivaled, and indeed paralleled, the worst excesses of Jim Crow.”
Justice Thurgood Marshall, Cleburne, 1985
The mid-Atlantic region, comprised of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware, played a pivotal role in the development and transformation of disability rights and public policy. At the dawn of the 20th century, new scientific and social theories (such as eugenics) shifted social attitudes and state government policy. The result was a well-organized campaign to isolate and eliminate citizens stigmatized as “feebleminded” or in some way “defective.” The terminology was abrasive and dehumanizing, and it served to deny individuals their freedom, dignity, and rights.
Three-quarters of a century later, the states of the mid-Atlantic region witnessed some of the greatest moments in the disability rights freedom struggle. Often neglected in the mainstream historical narrative, the disability rights movement touches on a host of contemporary social, legal, and public policy issues.
This symposium includes both formal and informal presentations and two afternoon workshops that assessing a) how museums and historical societies can be more inclusive in content, interpretation, and community education efforts, and b) the relationship of history to disability rights and community-based advocacy.
For more information and to register, visit http://march.rutgers.edu/category/news/.
This program is co-sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH), Rutgers University–Camden; the New Jersey Council for the Humanities; Millersville University; The Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University; The University of Delaware, Center for Disability Studies; Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance, Pennsylvania TASH; Pennsylvania History Coalition Honoring People with Disabilities; and The Arc of Pennsylvania.
