Before GWSS became a major—or even a concentration—Grinnell had the Noun Program in Women studies and the Noun Chair in Women’s Studies (both endowed by Louis Rosenfield Noun in 1986).  One of the first major events the Noun program sponsored was a large symposium in the Fall of 1988, entitled “Rethinking the Family From Multicultural Perspectives” (see the brochure posted here).  The keynote event of that conference was a reading by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, who was one of the defining voices of the 20th century (pictured here with three Grinnell Students behind her). This was not Brooks’ first visit to Grinnell, however. In 1972, students invited Brooks to headline the Black Martyrs Weekend event, which involved leading a workshop on poetry in the morning (captured in this picture showing Brooks and a student in the South Lounge), and then reading her own work in the evening.

Gwendolyn Brooks at 1988 symposium

Brooks leading a Poetry workshop in South Lounge, 1972

Rethinking_the_family_Noun_Symposium_1988 (Click here for full symposium brochure)