Women and the American Idea

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, author of Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality, and Elizabeth Cobbs, author of Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé explore key influential women throughout history and how these women inspired constitutional change. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the McNulty Foundation in partnership with the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women's Leadership at Villanova University.

Additional Resources

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, “Identity Matters: The Case of Judge Constance Baker Motley,” Columbia Law Review

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement

Elizabeth Cobbs, Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abagail Adams to Beyoncé

Q&A, “Elizabeth Cobbs”, C-SPAN

Muller v. Oregon (1908)

National Constitution Center, "The Legality of Abortion Pills," We the People podcast

Brandon Burnette, "Comstock Act of 1873 (1873)," First Amendment Encyclopedia 

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