In celebration of the 50th presentation of the Morris Fromkin Memorial Lecture, the UWM Libraries have created a digital collection as well as an exhibit in the Golda Meir Library’s Fourth Floor Gallery, that documents the history of the series with photographs and posters.
Sponsored by the Libraries, the Fromkin Lecture showcases work on social justice and human rights in the United States and abroad, and is the longest-running lecture series on campus.
US Congresswoman Gwen Moore will present the 50th Fromkin Lecture on Saturday, November 9, 2019 at 2 p.m. in the fourth floor Conference Center of the Golda Meir Library. The title of her talk is “No Justice: Public Policies that Create a Low-Wage Workforce and Demonize the Poor.”
Joan Prince, UWM Vice Chancellor for Global Inclusion & Engagement, will introduce Congresswoman Moore.
About Morris Fromkin and the Fromkin Lecture
Morris Fromkin, who practiced law first in Milwaukee and later New York, was a lifelong friend and supporter of people and movements seeking social justice in the twentieth century. After his death in 1969, his family established the Morris Fromkin Memorial Collection, as well as a Research Grant and Lectureship, which was inaugurated in 1970.
The grant, funded by the UWM Libraries, has encouraged and assisted UWM faculty and staff members from a variety of disciplines in their research on individuals, groups, movements, and ideas which have influenced the quest for social justice and human rights.
Occasionally, important contributors to the cause of social justice from outside the university are invited to speak.
Over the series’ five decades, topics have ranged widely, from the forging of identity in Milwaukee’s Latino immigrant community, to the intellectual origins of the “Wisconsin Idea,” to YouTube-based Afro-Brazilian social justice activism.
The Fromkin Grant is the only UWM Libraries-funded grant that supports original research and scholarship by UWM faculty and staff. Those who have won the grant have come from history, art and design, economics, geography, Africology, communication, architecture, criminal justice, and many other departments and units at UWM.
Call for 2020 Fromkin Proposals
The UWM Libraries invite proposals for the 2020–the 51st Annual–Fromkin Memorial Research Grant and Lectureship. The deadline for application is December 6, 2019. More information about the grant and application process is available online.
About Congresswoman Gwen Moore
Throughout her almost 30 years of public service, Congresswoman Gwen Moore has been at the forefront of some of our nation’s most significant legislative achievements and has gained the reputation of a fearless advocate for women and children.
Born in Racine, Wisconsin in 1951, Congresswoman Gwen Moore was raised as the eighth of nine children in Milwaukee. Her father was a union factory worker and her mother was a public school teacher. After graduating high school, Moore attended Marquette University and earned a B.A. in Political Science as a single, expectant mother on welfare. After finishing Marquette, she received the national “VISTA Volunteer of the Decade” award for serving as an exceptional community leader and spearheading the startup of a local credit union.
Inspired by her love of community activism, Congresswoman Moore successfully ran to represent Milwaukee in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1989 to 1992 and in the State Senate from 1993 to 2004. She was elected to represent Wisconsin’s 4th Congressional District in 2004, making her the first African American elected to Congress from the State of Wisconsin.
She is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Social Security system, Medicare, the Foster Care System, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Unemployment Insurance, and all taxation, tariffs, and revenue-raising measures. She serves on the Oversight, Select Revenue Measures, and Worker and Family Support Subcommittees.
The congresswoman is also an active member on the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus, LGBT Equality Caucus, the Great Lakes Caucus, the Helsinki Commission, and the Democratic Women’s Working Group.
Congresswoman Moore has been a consistent leader on issues like health care reform, women’s health, maternal and infant mortality, and domestic violence. She was a leading voice in reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and has authored critical legislation like the “Domestic Violence Gun Homicide Prevention Act of 2017.”
Congresswoman Moore lives in Milwaukee.