LONG BEFORE #METOO

Arizona State University's CounterAct Initiative

offered small grants in 2018-19 for arts-based projects that might engage the ASU and wider community in CounterActivism: Arts-Based, Trauma-Responsive Action for Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence. As someone involved with this group and the committee that preceded it, Stewart proposed the final project exhibit for her course, HST 328: Women in U.S. History since 1880. She received $500 to help make it happen and went out on a limb.

Spring 2019

saw the first arts-based exhibit produced by Stewart's HST 328: Women in U.S. History since 1880. Students were polled to select the name. The winner: Long Before #MeToo: An Arts-Based Exhibit Revealing a Difficult History. With the help of a bit of training in digitized historical newspaper sites and ASU Library resources in 1-on-1 meetings, students began to get going. Additionally, Stewart engaged her colleague and Phoenix Poet Laureate, Dr. Rosemarie Dombrowski, and former students whose talents included artistic creativity. With them visiting on some class days, students brainstormed, gained confidence, and moved ahead into uncharted territory.

The process and exhibit changed students, their teacher, and visitors. As one comment card stated: "The entire display was ABSOLUTELY wonderful. I am a survivor of intimate parter rape & domestic violence. Thank you." Students overcame fears and concerns, and the pride in their projects and confidence in their ability to articulate the history on which each was based was visible and palpable. As one young man said later, "I now realize I have done things in the past I shouldn't have. This changed me."

Spring 2020

brought a new, larger class of students to HST 328: Women in U.S. History Since 1880--one with twice as many potential projects. Danielle McGuire, the author of that book, originally noted back in 2016, At the Dark End of the Street, Zoomed with the class when we still met in person; as is visible among the 2020 projects, a number of students used McGuire's work as the foundation for their projects. Phoenix Poet Laureate and colleague, Dr. Rosemarie Dombrowski again visited the classroom (in person, and later via Zoom), inspiring and motivating students.

Then came the challenges associated with COVID-19 and the attendant need to move courses and public gatherings to online contexts. But of course, as Malcolm X famously noted about (inter)related contexts, "The problem is still here." How might students contribute to making the longer history of these problems, visible?

Although we couldn't predict exactly how this would go, students came through with some significant work.

Stewart's students produced a website version of the exhibit and hope it can expand, be refined, and continue to serve the purpose of the original as we look ahead to renewing the face-to-face event in 2021. Each student contributed their own page to the site, organizing it as they chose, highlighting their arts-based work and its historical context and relevance.