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Honoring the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by sharing powerful oral histories of women who faced gender-based discrimination when seeking credit.
Join HumanitiesDC and guest curators Leslie Aroon Walsh and Ingrid Gillies for a Women's History Month event, "Bank on Her: Exploring the Impact of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)," highlighting a pivotal moment in the fight for civil rights. This event will honor the ECOA, a landmark civil rights legislation passed fifty years ago, by sharing powerful oral histories of women who faced gender-based discrimination when seeking credit. We will trace the civil rights advocacy that led to this crucial legislation and examine how women navigated financial barriers before the protections of 1974. The story of the Women's National Bank, the first federally chartered women's bank founded in Washington, DC, will also be featured. The event will include a panel discussion, archival imagery, and compelling clips from oral history interviews, illustrating the intersection of financial independence and civil rights.
ASL Interpretation will be provided.
Leslie Aroon Walsh is an archive producer/ photo editor, with 15+ years’ experience sourcing dynamic imagery for documentaries, museum exhibits and publications. She specializes in factual storytelling, focusing on science and history subjects. She lucked into oral history after finding herself in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, many years ago. Her intentions were only to stay long enough to help her husband settle in for a sixth month postdoc, when a once in a lifetime opportunity fell into her lap. Next thing she knew, she was visiting kitchen tables throughout the state, recording stories from veterans, for the Library of Congress. To this day, she still occasionally pinches herself, to remind her of her luck.
Ingrid Gillies is a recent graduate who works in financial regulation. Her commitment to public service and appreciation for storytelling led her to the HumanitiesDC Oral Histories Workshop, to capture the stories of women who benefitted from the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Her prior research includes her senior capstone that compared nonpartisan governance structures at the federal state and level and won the CWRU U.S Politics Prize in 2023.
Please note: RSVPs are not required for entry, and entry is based on a first-come, first-serve basis. We appreciate your donations, but please note that if the event reaches capacity, donations will not be refundable.
For reasonable accommodation requests regarding access and inclusion, please contact Jimmy Watkins (jwatkins@humanitiesdc.org) no later than five business days before the start of this event.
AGE GROUP: | Seniors | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Women's History Month | Special Collections |
