Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement and
the Undoing of Roe v. Wade: Histories of Anti-Abortion Activism in America
The Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) at CU Boulder held the third installment of the Cox Family Process Speaker Series on Wednesday, April 12, 2023. This event featured Jennifer L. Holland, History Professor at the University of Oklahoma, author, and expert on abortion history. She specializes broadly in histories of gender, sexuality, 20th century conservative movements, and the American West. Dr. Jennifer Holland discussed the origins of her book Tiny You, the reception of the book, and the afterlife of Tiny You, especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022.
The Cox Family Process Speaker Series annual programming seeks to bring renowned artists and scholars to CU Boulder each spring to speak about work that made them well-known in their fields of study and research.
Images from the event can be found at the CHA's Facebook Page: Images from Event
Event Information:
University Libraries Book Resource Guide
ADA Accomodation
We work with ADA Compliance to attempt to fulfill any disability requests for ASL interpreting and/or real-time captioning for these events. Requests received less than 48 hours prior to the event cannot be guaranteed. To make a request, please email the Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) at cu-cha@colorado.edu.
Photos from Spring 2023 Cox Family Process Speaker Series
All images from the event can be found at the CHA's Facebook Page: Images from Event
Jennifer Ho, CHA Director, introducing Dr. Jennifer Holland (Cox speaker) to audience.
Copies of "Tiny You: A History of the Anti-Abortion Movement" on table. Copies were given to audience members at the event.
Jennifer Holland speaking at the Cox Family Process Speaker Series in Spring 2023. Slide behind her has book covers.
Jennifer Holland speaking at the Cox Family Process Speaker Series in Spring 2023. Slide behind her has news articles from the day Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Honor Sachs moderating for the Cox Family Process Speaker Series.
Audience of the Cox Family Process Speaker Series in Spring 2023.
About the Speaker
Jennifer L. Holland, PhD
Jennifer Holland is the L.R. Brammer, Jr. Presidential Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma, specializing in histories of gender and sexuality, the American West, and twentieth-century US politics. She is the author of Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement (2020), which received four prestigious book prizes. Prof. Holland also serves as the book review editor for the Journal of Women’s History. She received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin and her MA from Utah State University. Recently, her research has been featured in outlets such as PBS Newshour, CBS News, NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, and the Associated Press.
About the Book
Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement
Tiny You tells the story of one of the most successful political movements of the twentieth century: the grassroots campaign against legalized abortion. While Americans have rapidly changed their minds about sex education, pornography, arts funding, gay teachers, and ultimately gay marriage, opposition to legalized abortion has only grown. As other socially conservative movements have lost young activists, the pro-life movement has successfully recruited more young people to its cause.
Holland explores why abortion dominates conservative politics like no other cultural issue. Looking at anti-abortion movements in four western states since the 1960s—turning to the fetal pins passed around church services, the graphic images exchanged between friends, and the fetus dolls given to children in school—she argues that activists made fetal life feel personal to many Americans. Pro-life activists persuaded people to see themselves in the pins, images, and dolls they held in their hands and made the fight against abortion the primary bread-and-butter issue for social conservatives. Holland ultimately demonstrates that the success of the pro-life movement lies in the borrowed logic and emotional power of leftist activism.
Directions:
The CHA's Cox Family Process Speaker Series event is hosted at the Center for Academic Success & Engagement (CASE) building in the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) room E390. To find the Center for Teaching and Learning, enter CASE's main entrance (EAST) and either take the stairs or elevator to the 3rd floor. You will find room E390, where the CTL office is located.
Address: 1725 Euclid Ave, Boulder, CO 80309
Parking:
If you are driving to the event, you may pay to park in the Euclid Parking Garage (lot 205), which is the lower level of the CASE Building and will offer access inside the CASE Building.
Address: 1725 Euclid Avenue
Open 24/7, Euclid Parking Garage (EPG) is located between Broadway and 18th Street (east of University Memorial Center) and is "Pay by Plate" paystation parking. You will need to have your license plate number to pay at any of the paystations located at each pedestrian exit. If you are using the parking garage to enter the CASE Building, you will be entering on the EAST side. You may take the eelvator from the parking garage floor (L1) to the 3rd floor, and you will find the Center for Teaching and Learning in RM E390.
For any questions, reach out to the Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) at cu-cha@colorado.edu.