Oregon Library Association Quarterly

Oregon State Library Association Quarterly
Summer 2009, Vol. 15, No. 2

Oregon’s Passage of the Equal Rights Amendment - Excerpts from With Grit and By Grace  

Mary Ginnane, Oregon State Library Association President and guest editor for this issue ofthe Quaretly, makes a comparison between Stubborn Twig (authored by Lauren Kessler and the 2009 Library Association’s choice for its “One State, Many Stories” project) and With Grit and By Grace. 

“The consciousness-raising about prejudice toward immigrants that Stubborn Twig fostered is mirrored in the selected excerpts about Oregon’s passage of the Equal Rights Amendment by Betty Roberts and Gail Wells. Betty Roberts keynoted at the 2009 OLA Conference and told stories from her legislative and judicial career that are important to remember. Our presentday workplaces and our lives are better due to the movements of recent history with which Betty and others worked. Betty’s stories are rich with lessons about collaboration, consensus, and compromise as illustrated in her memories of the E.R.A. in Oregon. One of the repeated human stories is that patterns of prejudice can be overcome, often assisted by the passage of civil rights statutes.”

To read the full excerpt, and other articles in the Quarterly, go to  http://data.memberclicks.com/site/ola/olaq_15no2.pdf.