Title: Women's History Month
Description: This exhibit highlights the contributions - scholarly, administrative, social, and cultural - of some of the many women who have played significant roles at the University, in their academic fields, and in the community. Also featured are books written by and about women, and information about Women's History Month-related events on campus and related books. Two additional windows (not pictured here) include more related books from the McNichols Campus Library collection.
Curation and design: Assistant Library Professor Rebecca Tull, Library Technician Maurice Greenia, and Morgen Rhodes of the The Feminist Coalition, a Detroit Mercy student organization.
Dates: March 2024
Mercy College Presidents
Mercy College was founded in 1941, its campus situated on Outer Drive on Detroit's west side. The College's founder and presidents are featured here. From top left: Sister Patricia Garvey, RSM, (1941-1952); Sister Mary Lucille Middleton, RSM, (1952-1967); Sister Mary Karl (Emily) George, RSM, (1967-1971); Sister Mary Agnes Mansour, RSM, (1971-1983). Bottom row, from left: Foundress Mother Mary Carmelita Manning and Sister Maureen A. Fay, O.P. Sister Maureen Fay also served as the University of Detroit Mercy's first woman president after the consolidation of the University of Detroit and Mercy College.
Advancing Fields of Study and Exercising Academic Freedom
Mary Helen Washington was the first African American woman to head the African American Studies program, in the 1970s, after earning her PhD in Black Literature at the University of Detroit. Jane Schaberg was a professor of Religious Studies at the University and a feminist biblical scholar whose research and scholarship garnered attention and, sometimes, controversy.
Campus Events and Topically Related Books in the Collection
The University hosted numerous events related to Women's History in March 2024, including a virtual International Women's Day presentation on The Effect of Armed Conflict and War on Women; the virtual presentation The Art of (Not) Forgetting with Belarussian author/photographer Olga Bubich; and a documentary screening and panel panel discussion of Aftershock, which examines Black maternal mortality and the birth justice movement.
Trailblazing Women
University of Detroit Mercy's The Feminist Coalition (FemCo), a student organization dedicated to gender equality and advocating for intersectional feminism, designed this window. Featured are trailblazing women with connections to the University of Detroit Mercy and the city of Detroit. Included in the exhibit are photos and information on Pamela Eldred, Sister Agnes Mary Mansour, The Sisters of Mercy, Grace Lee Boggs, and Aretha Franklin.