| RZ-279848-21 | Research Programs: Collaborative Research | University of Houston | Democratizing Politics: Mapping the Stories and Significance of the 1977 National Women’s Conference | 1/1/2022 - 12/31/2024 | $249,998.00 | Nancy | Beck | Young | Leandra | | Zarnow | University of Houston | Houston | TX | 77204-3067 | USA | 2021 | Women's History | Collaborative Research | Research Programs | 249998 | 0 | 249998 | 0 | Preparation of an open-access website on the legislative,
political, and social impact of the 1977 National Women’s Conference. (36
months)
“Democratizing Politics” is a multi-year, multi-state, multi-institutional effort led by the University of Houston to analyze the thousands of participants at and legacy of the 1977 National Women’s Conference (NWC). Our open-access digital humanities website launches in March, 2021, and our fully-featured website will be complete by 2027, NWC’s 50th anniversary. Congress created the NWC with bipartisan support, appropriating $5 million and mandating a diversity requirement for conference delegates. The NWC stands out in U.S. history as the most diverse and only federally funded convention of American women. In 1977, 2,000 delegates, elected by 150,000 participants at 56 lead-up state and territory meetings, convened in Houston to outline 26 policy action areas to present to President Jimmy Carter. One of the greatest experiments in civic engagement, the NWC modeled democracy in action. The participants offered an expansive agenda to make the nation more inclusive and the U.S. government more responsive. |