Drawing of Dr. Luann Dummer (A.W.)
Note from the Director, Dr. Liz Wilkinson
Dr. Liz Wilkinson (Michael Hardwick)
Hello! Thanks for picking up or clicking on our newly relaunched iteration of Many Voices – the newsletter for the Luann Dummer Center for Women. I am excited to be in the second of a three-year term as Director of the Luann Dummer Center for Women, while also fulfilling my duties of teaching for the English; Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies; and Sports Studies departments. Especially in this time when so many centers for women and equity are having their funding cut or are being eliminated entirely, we are so fortunate and so thankful for the endowment from our namesake, Dr. Luann Dummer. Her prescience – that the fight for women’s rights would be a journey without an endpoint – allows us to continue doing the good work of feminism, protected from the external forces that try (but fail!) to snuff out our many voices.
This academic year, as you’ll see in this newsletter, eight LDCW interns are working on amazing projects inside and outside of the university. Additionally, we are all chiming in on the definitions and the ongoing necessity of feminism. We’re working to spread the word about the power of feminism to do good in our world. To help us harness our best and brightest selves, we’ve added LDCW Coordinator, Arianna Wegley, to our team. We couldn’t do this work without her!
We are developing truly exciting events for the fall – a full list is available at the end of newsletter and on various campus apps – and we hope you will find something(s) that speak to you. The mission of the Luann Dummer Center for Women is to assist women – to include lesbian, bisexual, asexual, gender-non-binary, and/or transgender individuals who identify as feminists or support the advancement of women – in achieving their highest potential. We are steadfastly committed to that mission, and we invite you to join us!
“This Is What Feminism Looks Like!”
Luann Dummer Center for Women interns weigh in on feminism and why it matters today
S.B.
On my first day of class, during ice breakers, one of the characteristics my professor mentioned about himself was that for “personal reasons,” he is not a Feminist. To me, that was a comment that was not only unrelated to our class topic but also made me wonder how all the women in our class felt after hearing that.
At that moment, I was thinking, what does he think Feminism is? Feminism at its very core means equality and justice. Believing and allowing all people who identify as female, assigned at birth or not, to be treated as equally as men and guarantee human dignity for all. To be inclusive and affirming of women, across their differences; celebrating their achievements and struggles, and providing a positive and affirming stance towards women and expressions of the feminine.
Feminism has also managed to connect people and social justice movements across the globe, bringing women together and making them stronger in their stand for independence and equality. Feminism is borderless and beneficial for all.
Looking back at this definition, and the impacts of Feminist waves, I was thinking to myself, why wouldn’t you support this? What act of Feminism would harm men in any way in which they are against or afraid? Feminism, contrary to what people might think, is not taking opportunities away from men, but ensuring both men and women get an equal chance at receiving opportunities. Why wouldn’t you want these rights and support for your loved ones? You mom, your sister, your partner, or your child. What is it about Feminism that is so scary?
To this day, I haven’t found a satisfactory answer to these questions. I believe some of these feelings and “personal reasons” come from a place of insecurity, and the toxic belief that men are more capable or better than women. All this tells me is how important it is that we educate ourselves about Feminism and what it actually means, and finding ways to apply it to our day-to-day lives and support one another. In challenging times like these where women’s rights are being attacked, our strongest tool is going to be knowledge. It is only by educating ourselves that we can have conversations that would open people’s minds and have them join us in our fight against inequality.
R.H.
Feminism is a movement towards the goal of universal recognition that all people have equal dignity, value, independence, and potential to achieve, regardless of their gender.
Women have not always been afforded the right to higher education at the University of St. Thomas. 1977 was the first year that women were admitted to attend (only 48 years ago)! This was a relatively late gender-equity development at a university due to the fact that St. Thomas was originally an institution solely for seminary students. The first class of women at St. Thomas graduated in 1980.
The women’s studies major was established at St. Thomas and the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC) in 1991. St. Thomas professors Catherine Craft-Fairchild and Ann Johnson co-taught the first introductory class in the program! In 2019, the ACTC’s Women’s Studies Consortium transitioned into being a more intersectional collaborative with several independent programs instead of just one—this was called the Twin Cities Women and Gender Studies Collaborative. St. Thomas’s program also changed its name to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies that same year thanks to the initiative of Dr. Paola Ehrmantraut.
St. Thomas has been a changemaker within Minnesota in its education about women, gender, and sexuality. Though it is important to celebrate this work and all that has come of it, there must also be constant recognition of the fact that progress erodes. We, the University of St. Thomas, must continue to make active feminist change in every area we can, and stay vigilant against efforts opposing such change.
References
Tales from the Archives: 45th Anniversary of Coeducation
‘Almost Like Home Base’: Women’s Studies at the University of St. Thomas
J.K.
Feminism is the acknowledgement and celebration of women’s accomplishments. It strives to create an inclusive and equal space for all gender identities. Feminism is still extremely relevant today in our current area of political unrest. We, as a society, are very divided because of patriarchal ideals ingrained in our social structure.
Until the 1990s, it was not common medical practice to use women in clinical trials. Meaning, side effects in women were unknown for many treatments and medications. In 2019, only 49% of studies included men and women in the same study. In the last decade, there has not been any change in the number of studies that analyze data based on sex. Women’s health is still an under-researched field that affects diagnoses and treatment for women.
Medical inequality is not the only reason that modern feminism is still important. This not only affects female-identifying people but also affects everyone in our society through varying social expectations that force a certain narrative based on one’s sex.
References
Balch, Bridget, et al. “Why We Know so Little about Women’s Health.” AAMC, 26 Mar. 2024, www.aamc.org/news/why-we-know-so-little-about-women-s-health.
N.L.
For me, feminism means dignity, safety, having a voice that is heard, and opportunities for leadership. As a Black woman from Guyana, these are not abstract ideas; they are the very things that shape whether women can live full lives. Too often, women in my community carry the weight of violence, poverty, and discrimination while being overlooked in decision-making spaces. Feminism gives me the language to demand more, but womanism helps me see myself more fully in that struggle.
Mainstream feminism often speaks about equality, but it can feel far removed from the realities of women in South America and the Caribbean. Womanism, as described by Alice Walker (1983), centers Black women’s experiences and honors the balance between survival, community, and self-definition. In Guyana, this perspective matters because women’s lives are shaped not only by patriarchy but also by race, class, and the long history of colonial inequality (Andaiye, 2020). Afro-Guyanese women face systemic barriers tied to poverty and racism. Indigenous women still fight for recognition of land and cultural rights. Indo-Guyanese women navigate strong patriarchal traditions.
To me, feminism is not only about gender equality but about ensuring that women can walk home safely at night, that their voices are respected in politics and workplaces, and that young girls see women as leaders worth emulating. A womanist lens deepens this by showing how women’s dignity and leadership are tied to the survival of entire communities. Issues like maternal mortality in Guyana, which remains one of the highest in the Americas (PAHO, 2023), or access to economic resources are not just women’s issues. They are matters of justice and collective survival.
As the late Guyanese activist Andaiye explained, “The struggle for women’s rights is also the struggle for social justice” (Andaiye, 2020, p. 15). Feminism, as I live it, looks like women being safe, respected, and able to lead. Womanism makes sure that, as a Black Guyanese woman, my story is not an afterthought but central to the fight for change.
References
Andaiye. (2020). The Point is to Change the World: Selected Writings of Andaiye. Pluto Press.
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). (2023). Maternal Mortality in the Americas. https://www.paho.org/en/data
Walker, A. (1983). In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
E.N.
Feminism is: The belief that a just world creates political, economic, and cultural equality for all people regardless of gender.
Sports are and always has been political. Sport has brought marginalized communities to the forefront of culture, it has been a display of both military power and national pride, and it has been a tool of protest.
Former NFL player Joe Ehrmann said in his 2013 TedTalk “Be A Man,”:
“Sports have always been a way to integrate immigrants into American culture. Every ethnic group that’s ever been ghettoized, sports has created a way into that ghetto. When you talk about civil rights, when you talk about human rights, when you talk about women’s rights, you think of the role of sports and athletics…”
The expansion of women’s sports means an expansion of opportunities across one of the largest entertainment industries in the world. Since the WNBA’s founding in 1996, professional women’s sports leagues have exploded across the U.S.
St. Paul is now host to the Twin Cities Geminis, one of six teams in the new Women’s Elite Rugby league. Women’s Pro Baseball League will launch in 2026, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League saw more than 1.2 million fans attend games in its first two seasons.
With this wave comes opportunities for female athletes, but also coaches, media professionals, operations technicians, and strategists. Women’s sports create greater opportunities in a socially powerful and economically successful industry. By uplifting women and cultivating their potential, we make the world bigger for all people.
L.R.
To me, feminism means something different for everyone. While the Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as “advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex,” you don’t just have to be female or someone assigned the female sex to be a feminist. Feminism is something that you believe in, it’s wanting fairness for all despite the genitalia and chromosomes you were born with.
Some misrepresent what feminism is and stands for, some conflate feminism with misandry or a hatred for men, believing that feminism is about female superiority rather than gender equality. While others have selective support, they say they support equality but reject feminist movements. Especially when it comes to addressing issues like reproductive rights, workplace equality, and gender-based violence.
To me and a lot of other women, feminism means getting recognized for your worth as a human being, and being seen for your accomplishments, not just that you made it to the table as a woman.
LDCW Internship Partnering with Minnesota Aurora FC
E.N.
Women playing soccer (South Agency / Getty Images Signature)
The Minnesota Aurora is a community-owned women’s soccer team in the USL-W and UPSL leagues. They’ve won the Heartland Division title all four years since their founding in 2021. Their core values of transformation, inclusivity, accessibility, and empowerment help the Aurora make waves in all of women’s sports, not just for soccer athletes. I interned with them this summer as a videography and storytelling intern. Here’s how my internship contributed to the Minnesota Aurora’s core values:
Transformation:
I was able to help launch Behind the Northern Lights, an initiative to spotlight, support, and eventually pay the interns of Minnesota Aurora. My materials will be used to support the success of next year’s interns and to gather resources and funding for the internship program moving forward.
Inclusivity:
I captured and platformed the many initiatives Aurora takes towards inclusivity. From documenting through video the unique personalities of each player to turning my lens towards Aurora’s diverse and capable staff, I made videos featuring the strength of Aurora’s differences.
Accessibility:
By creating highlight reels, headshots, and statistical videos for the team, I provided tools that athletes need to further their careers. My skills provided for the athletes’ needs off the field.
Empowerment:
My work not only supported the athletes, but also my fellow interns. I am proud to have been able to advance the careers of both female athletes and other young professionals.
What am I doing next?
My contract with the Aurora has been extended into the fall 2025 semester. I will be moving into the marketing communications department to continue supporting the success and values of Minnesota Aurora and women’s sports.
Gender-Affirming Tommie’s Closet News
S.B.
Clothes on hangers (Edafoto / Getty Images)
Here at Luann Dummer Center for Women, located at O’Shaughnessy Education Center (OEC), we support all students regardless of their gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and religion. All people from all backgrounds and stories are welcome here.
Embodied in LDCW’s mission is fostering the intellectual, spiritual, and personal development of women and promoting an open and diverse campus environment. By providing opportunities for self-development and academic enrichment, the center serves as a meeting place for women and allies. The category “woman,” we further acknowledge, includes, but is not limited to, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, gender-non-binary, and/or transgender individuals who identify as feminists or support the advancement of women.
One of the resources available to all at the center is the Gender-Affirming Closet. This closet, in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability, provides students with the opportunity to explore aspects of gender expression and gender identity in a safe and supportive space. All are welcome to come and grab clothing items from the closet, with the opportunity to return them if they don’t find them suitable for any reason. We also accept donations: clothes, toiletries, and accessories can be dropped off at the Center.
The Gender-Affirming Closet has been very successful in the past year, and we are excited to maintain and grow it here at the Center. Students have mentioned how the closet has helped them feel more comfortable in their body, and how they feel less pressured while trying on new stuff because they can easily return it at any time, and because the LDCW is a judgment-free space. We are proud to be a resource that supports our students in their journey of self-discovery.
Menstrual Product Access Update
R.H.
Assorted menstrual products (Liudmila Chernetska / Getty Images)
Over the summer, staff from the Center for Well-Being (CWB) worked on various back-end projects to help advance access to menstrual products on the St. Thomas campus. The outward-facing website page describing free product locations on campus was updated, and exact room numbers were added to ensure that those in need of products can find them right away. The updated web page can be viewed at Menstrual and Lactation Resources.
Additionally, CWB staff worked with Tommie Central to ensure that their student employees know where menstrual products are located on campus and can therefore direct folks to find them as needed.
A contact from St. Thomas Law also reached out to the CWB and asked for assistance in setting up dispensers in the School of Law building. The CWB will be helping the School of Law in this endeavor in the near future.
Going forward, the CWB will be working on expanding departmental knowledge of their ability to install and maintain dispensers across campus. If departments wish to have dispensers installed in their space, they only need to contact the CWB with their request and pay for the dispenser. The CWB will take care of installation and the continued filling of the dispensers on an annual basis. The goal with this is to ensure that dispensers are available to students wherever they are needed!
The Student Menstrual Product Advisory Committee will assist the CWB in these efforts by gathering student data on where menstrual product “deserts” exist on the St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses. Additionally, the Committee will work on creating and distributing informational materials that inform the student population of menstrual products on-campus and that help to destigmatize the topic of menstruation as a whole at St. Thomas.
Fun fact: OEC continues to show the highest circulation of menstrual products of any building on campus! This goes to show that students know where products are available for them, and use these products when they need them. The work to advance menstrual access is on our campus is important, especially as St. Thomas continues to grow in numbers and flourish as an institution.
Sustainability with South African Women in Khaylitsha
M.A.
Chumisa Composting Project (M.A.)
On July 31st, eight women based in Khaylitsha, South Africa, joined in on a Zoom meeting held at the Luann Dummer Center for Women (LDCW). Though they were strangers to the people stateside, I worked with these women all summer doing community composting. The Chumisa Team (Shaylee, Wezo, Lindo, and I) would visit them weekly to check their bins and collect pre-compost. We would then take the pre-compost from households to Chumisa Community Composting site to continue the composting process. Right behind Chumisa Community Composting sits the White House, the community center where most of these women have plots where they grow vegetables that their families consume. They also meet at the White House to socialize and engage with other community members.
Their involvement in the community through agriculture is already bringing significant changes to Khaylitsha. They have advanced Chumisa Community Composting acting as community leaders. Two of the elderly ladies, Mama Toku and Mama Lumka, in particular, stand out with community leadership efforts. We would see them at the White House every day as they tended to their vegetables. They like to keep busy, so they also do the majority of household cooking and composting. Mamas Toku and Lumka help make the White House the community center it is.
The purpose of the Zoom meeting was to connect women like Mama Toku and Mama Lumka to people at LDCW. In doing so, we were hoping to widen the St. Thomas community and share the perspectives of women whose voices are unfamiliar to most people here at the university. The elderly ladies shared their experiences moving from Eastern Cape to the Western Cape and how that shaped their farming.
Additionally, they reflected on their experiences living in apartheid South Africa and how things have changed overtime. They talked about their gardens and how they benefit from that. For instance, the women who have plots at the White House do not buy any vegetables because they are able to grow everything they need. Additionally, their involvement in Chumisa Community Composting is helping create accessible organic compost in Khaylitsha. Their stories and commitment to community are nothing short of inspiring. I hope to have more meetings with them so more people can hear their stories.
Centering Women in Climate Change: Intern Reflections from The Climate Knowledge Collective
N.L.
Mangroves (Mariusz Prusaczyk / Getty Images)
Over the 2024-2025 academic year, my colleague L. G. and I have had the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Peg Spitzer a professor at Stony Brook’s College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Spitzer founded the Climate Knowledge Collective to highlight her studies in women’s leadership in climate change adaptation. The Climate Knowledge Collective (CKC) has a special dedication to spotlighting the climate leadership of women in the global south.
Our focus has been on reviewing and curating oral histories: firsthand accounts of women leaders from across Africa and the Caribbean who are responding to the effects of climate change in their communities. These stories carry powerful insight into the human impact of environmental degradation and the innovative, community-based solutions being developed to address it. One of my favorites being, in Senegal’s Saloum Delta, Fatoumata Fall works with women’s cooperatives to restore mangroves, a critical ecosystem that protects against coastal erosion and provides sustainable livelihoods. Her story not only highlights the urgency of climate resilience, but also showcases how women are leading practical, community-rooted change from the ground up.
L. G. and I have worked with Dr. Spitzer to select vital information from these oral histories that would be beneficial to students, researchers, and the broader public. We’ve also collaborated with Nas Ferns, the CKC website manager, to make these insights accessible online. Our weekly meetings with Dr. Spitzer have helped us shape content that is both thoughtful and educational. She’s also invited us to participate in her classes via Zoom, where we’ve shared reflections on the work and learned from others engaging with climate change across disciplines.
As student interns at the Luann Dummer Center for Women, this project has been deeply meaningful. The LDCW is grounded in feminist principles that emphasize equity, global understanding, and women’s voices in social justice movements. Our work with CKC reflects those very principles. By amplifying the lived experiences of women in the Global South, we’re actively contributing to a more inclusive and intersectional understanding of climate justice, one that centers the knowledge and leadership of those most affected.
As a student with a deep personal and academic connection to the environment particularly how it intersects with public health and its disproportionate impact on women this work has been especially insightful. Engaging with these narratives has deepened my understanding of how gender and geography shape both vulnerability and resilience in the face of climate change. Collaborating with L. G., who is pursuing an undergraduate degree in data analytics, has also enhanced this experience. Her lens allowed us to approach the oral histories not only as stories, but as qualitative data, making connections and drawing patterns I may not have recognized on my own. Together, we’ve been able to merge different ways of thinking to bring these voices forward with care, clarity, and purpose.
At a time when young people are increasingly aware of the urgent challenges ahead, from rising global temperatures to climate-related displacement, it is more important than ever to highlight the work already being done by those most affected.
Our contributions can be found on the CKC website (ckcollective.org), where educators, students, and researchers can learn from these experiences and apply them in both academic and community settings. This opportunity has shown us that climate knowledge grows stronger when it is shared, and that real change begins by listening to the people who live at the heart of the crisis. In many ways, it also reflects the Luann Dummer Center for Women’s theme from the past academic year, The Power of Storytelling, reminding us that stories are not just reflections of experience, but tools for advocacy, education, and collective action.
Lucille’s Bottle Shop, Sipping Differently, Building Community
E.V.
Cocktails (Atlas Studio)
When you walk into Lucille’s Bottle Shop in downtown St. Paul, there’s a feeling. It’s calm, intentional, inviting. The shop isn’t about clinking glasses at happy hour. It’s about connection, flavor, creativity, all without alcohol. Lucille’s is changing how we think about beverages, gathering, and home life, and for that, it deserves a place in Many Voices.
Meet the Founders
Lucille’s was co-founded by Alexandra Zauner and Christina Arnt. People want sophisticated, fun, social spaces that don’t center alcohol. Christina and Alexandra teamed up to make that vision real. What started as a pop-up has since grown into a full-storefront bottle shop and social space.
What Makes Lucille’s Unique
Alcohol-free doesn’t mean flavor-free. The shelves are filled with thoughtfully curated non-alcoholic beverages, mocktails, zero-proof spirits, and alcohol-free wines for people who love taste and experience without the buzz.
Social experience built in. Lucille’s isn’t just a store. It’s a space for learning and connection: tastings, spirit-free cocktail classes, and community events.
Aiming for inclusivity. Whether someone is sober by choice, by health, by lifestyle, or just curious, Lucille’s invites everyone in. It’s a place where people can explore new flavors, try something different, and feel comfortable.
The Journey
Starting up hasn’t been without its hurdles. Alexandra shares that being sober in a culture that often equates social life with drinking was part of what motivated her but also meant working against norms.
Finding the right space, building an inventory of quality non-alcoholic brands, and educating customers who might be unfamiliar with the alcohol-free movement. All of this has been part of the work. But with each event, each new product, and every person who discovers Lucille’s, the shop is showing there’s a real demand in the community.
How You Can Support Lucille’s
Here are ways to show up for Lucille’s and for the wider alcohol-free/sober/non-alcoholic community in the Twin Cities:
Visit the shop for tastings or attend a spirit-free cocktail class. Try something you haven’t done before.
Spread the word. If you know friends or family who might be curious but skeptical, invite them. Your enthusiasm helps.
Shop non-alcoholic first. When choosing drinks for gatherings or gifts, consider purchasing from Lucille’s and similar businesses.
Why Lucille’s Matters in Many Voices
Lucille’s is more than a shop. It’s a shift in culture. It’s proof that entrepreneurship rooted in health, intention, and inclusion can thrive. It’s also an example of someone turning their lived experience (sober life, wanting different options) into something that serves many others.
For us at the Luann Dummer Center, Lucille’s embodies what we hope to highlight: leadership from the margins, innovation, and the forging of spaces where more people can belong.
References
Lucille’s Bottle Shop. “Bottle Shop + Tasting Room.” Lucille’s Bottle Shop, 2024, lucillesbottleshop.com/pages/bottle-shop-and-tasting-room. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025.
“Lucille’s Bottle Shop Taps into Alcohol-Free Gatherings.” KARE11, 2024, kare11.com/article/money/business/behind-the-business/lucilles-bottleshop-taps-into-alcohol free-gatherings/89-0470bd80-52af-4a51-9753-c3a273702b7f. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025.
“Downtown Bar Opens Without the Booze.” St. Paul Publishing, 2024, stpaulpublishing.com/downtown-bar-opens-without-the-booze. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025.
Feminist Movie Review: Barbie
J.K.
Assorted Barbie dolls (Alessandro Vecchi)
This summer blockbuster is a staple in our society. It’s highly advertised and anticipated all year, and when it’s finally released, people flock to the theaters to see it. For years, the summer blockbuster was typically an action movie with a male lead. That was until 2023, when Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was released. While Barbie did seem to compete with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer at the box office, Barbie made 1.4 billion to Oppenheimer’s 900 million.
This was such an important film for women and girls. Not only did Barbie provide an excellent message, but it also provided a sense of community for all those who went to see it. People would show up at theaters in pink, or other costumes, and had a chance to connect with those around them. I think the difficult part about Barbenheimer was that we had created a safe space to reminisce, connect, and enjoy our femininity, but Barbie was criticized, and people claimed it lacked substance.
Barbie made a very important commentary on our society and the pressures we put on both men and women. We saw Barbie struggle with being a woman in the Real World, where we are doubted and looked down upon because of our gender. We also saw Ken, who finally discovered some power and took it for granted. He was overcome by toxic masculine expectations and ended up hurting those around him in an attempt to comply with those ideals. For me, it was hard to hear such harsh and biased criticisms about a movie that finally made me feel seen.
Feminist Book Review: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
J.K.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
In the spring of 2024, the Luann Dummer Center for Women hosted author Alison Bechdel. Bechdel’s first book, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, is a graphic novel detailing complex family relationships and an exploration of sexuality. This novel looks at Bechdel’s childhood and her relationships with her family, specifically her father, as she gets older. It was a very interesting novel to read, and it was unique among popular novels today. It pushes the idea of identity and self-discovery in adolescent years and is a refreshing change of pace from mainstream media. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic was written in 2006, and it is still relevant today in its somewhat serious, yet still comical presentation of Bechdel’s life.
Bechdel has written a number of other books, including The Secret to Human Strength, which can be found in the Luann Dummer Center for Women’s Library, among many other pieces of feminist literature. Books from the Center’s library are available for checkout.
Local Feminist History
L.G.
Nellie Francis (Minnesota Historical Society / The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Nellie Francis was born in Nashville in 1874 and moved with her family to St. Paul in 1885. In 1891, she became the only African American graduate of St. Paul High School, now known as Central High School.
Nellie worked as a stenographer for several years at the West Publishing Company and later rose through the ranks at the Northern Pacific Railway. In church, she served for many years as a teacher and superintendent of Pilgrim Baptist’s primary Sunday school, and as president of its Aid Society.
Francis was active in civic life. She led the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, served as president of the Everywoman Suffrage Club in Minnesota, and represented the organization as a delegate to state suffrage conferences. In 1909, she met President Taft at the White House, and in 1921 she met President Harding.
In the mid-1910s, Francis formed an all-Black women’s singing group called the Folk Song Coterie, which performed exclusively African American music. To her, this was the true American folk music. The Coterie often performed at patriotic events during World War I.
After the tragic lynching of three Black carnival workers in Duluth in 1920, Francis was credited with drafting the related anti-lynching bill and played a major role in guiding it through the Minnesota Legislature, where it passed with near-unanimous support. She is considered the first African American woman to lobby the Minnesota Legislature.
In 1924, Nellie and her husband contracted to buy a home in an all-white neighborhood of St. Paul. In protest, neighbors organized the “Creton Improvement Association,” held noisy demonstrations, burned a cross on the couple’s lawn, and even offered them a thousand dollars not to move in. The Francises moved in anyway.
Upcoming Fall Events
Ongoing at the LDCW
CAPS Platonic Book Circle with Dr. GiGi Giordano
October 9, November 13, and December 4, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Care and Connection Series
October 2, October 30, November 6, November 20, and December 11,
5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Community Coffee Hour
Tuesdays, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Feminist Community Karaoke
September 28, October 26, and November 30, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Feminist Community Meetings
Thursdays, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Feminist Community Movie Night
October 12, November 9, and December 14, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Fiber Arts Hour
September 22, October 20, November 17, and December 15, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Power Hours: Protected Writing Hours for Faculty and Staff
Mondays, 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. and Tuesdays 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
WGSS Feminist Forums: Feminists at Work in the World
September 26, October 31, and December 5, 3:15 to 4:30 p.m.
Special Events
Women Faculty Leadership Council Fall Discussion and Reception
September 25, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. (ASC 340 and TMH 204)
Luann Dummer’s Birthday (Open House)
October 1, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Period Action Day (Open House)
October 8, 10:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Collective Re-Worlding through Feminine and Indigenous Power: A Path to Thriving Biodiverse Ecosystems by María José Iturralde
October 15, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. (OEC Auditorium)
Gender-Affirming Closet Donation Drive and Open House
October 22, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Glow Up, Rise Up: Feminism and Skincare
October 30, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
