Gloria Steinem and Salamishah Tillet in Conversation
As part of a program honoring Women’s History Month, The Cooper Union welcomed back women's and civil rights icon Gloria Steinem to a packed Great Hall on Saturday, March 18. She was joined by scholar and Pulitzer Prize-winner Salamishah Tillet for a conversation reflecting on the state of women's rights and empowerment in America today. Drawing on video from Steinem's 1992 Great Hall address, available as part of the Voices from the Great Hall Archive that launched in Spring 2022 thanks to the generous support of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the pair reflected on the progress realized since then and explored the contemporary issues that put that progress at risk.
The Cooper Union's president, Laura Sparks, joined the pair on stage towards the end of the program and moderated an audience Q&A. One of the questions came from an Idaho student whose artwork that considers the right to choose was recently pulled from a college exhibition on today's biggest health issues for violating a state anti-abortion law.
Later that evening, the celebration of Great Women Live in the Great Hall continued with outstanding performances by headliners in music, dance, and theater. See the gallery of photos from the evening program.
The March 18th event with Steinem and Tillet was part of the Gardiner Foundation Great Hall Forum series. The program was also sponsored by the Ciafone and Argento Family and Debby & Scott Rechler / Rechler Philanthropy.
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Photos by Marget Long
Gloria Steinem and Salamishah Tillet
The admission line for the event snaked through Cooper Square
A standing room-only Great Hall audience gets ready to hear Gloria Steinem and Salamishah Tillet in conversation
President Laura Sparks gives welcoming remarks
Gloria Steinem
Salamishah Tillet
An audience member in the packed Great Hall asks a question
The colonnade windows of the Foundation Building commemorated some of the many celebrated and accomplished women who have spoken in the Great Hall or been alumnae of The Cooper Union.