CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now with Carole McCann

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Planned Parenthood of Maryland (PPMD) is a fascinating site for considering complexities of US reproductive healthcare history. Founded in 1927, PPMD was the first affiliate established in a racially and religiously segregated southern state. Yet it always served both Black and white women, while its volunteers, doctors, and donors were largely drawn from Baltimore’s Jewish community. This talk will consider the question of what it means to write about the history of reproductive health organizations in the current moment. Dr. McCann is particularly interested in thinking through how the ongoing attacks on reproductive rights and health providers might inform interpretation of the last time this work and organization was excluded from mainstream medicine and social welfare. In addition, she will consider the problem of limited archives: What do we lose when social justice organizations are so busy doing the work, they do not preserve their records of the work? What strategies can help us find traces in them in the historical record? And what preservation work might we owe to the history of our time?