About

On April 29 (8:00-9:15 PM, VMI's Gillis Theater @Marshall Hall), join the Rockbridge Historical Society, the VMI Dept. of History, and other area faculty members for a roundtable discussion examining women's local and statewide contributions to our nation's history. As America reflects on 250 years since the American Revolution, join other community members and cadets to broadly explore two and a half centuries of "American Evolution," highlighted by these "Revolutionary Women of Virginia & Rockbridge."

The invited panelists (academic historians and public historians from Virginia Military Institute, Washington & Lee University, the University of Virginia's Karsh Institute of Democracy, the Rockbridge Historical Society, and Lexington City Schools) will discuss historic events and some of the less-celebrated but influential women who have shaped our area, state, and nation, from the 18th through 21st centuries. Those macro- and micro-histories stretch from even before the joint founding of Lexington and Rockbridge County in 1778, to the Supreme Court decision and implementation of co-education at VMI at the turn of the 21st century.

A biographical sampler of short presentations – introduced by RHS Executive Director Eric Wilson, and followed by a moderated conversation between panelists moderated by VMI Assistant Professor of His­tory, Liz Schroepfer – will speak to the experiences of particular women who defined and distinguished different eras, as well as broader generational and professional co­horts. Some of these cohorts and individual change-makers shaped and re-defined early colonial and revolutionary histories. Other groups resisted Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act in a pair of 1924 lawsuits to receive marriage licenses in the Rockbridge Circuit Court, and in the 1990s, secured the admission and integration of women into VMI’s Corps of Cadets.

Generously co-sponsored by VMI's program in Constitutional History, a free reception with drinks and heavy hors d'oeurves will precede the event (7 PM, in the adjoining Hall of Valor). VMI Constitutional History Chair Mark Boonshoft adds: "We're proud to host this event under the auspices of VMI's program in constitutional history, which takes a big-tent approach to the subject. The revolutionary women who will be featured in this event clearly made lasting impacts on American law in various ways, and we look forward to highlighting those contributions as part of the story of our nation's evolving constitutional, political, social, and educational histories."

The program and reception are both free and welcome all ages. To help with the catering count, please RSVP if you plan to attend the reception by writing to Director@RockbridgeHistory.org. For more info, see RHS' Instagram and Facebook pages.