St. John's College is delighted to host a thought-provoking evening lecture featuring Professor Paula A. Monopoli, the Distinguished University Professor and the Sol & Carlyn Hubert Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

The common perception among Americans is that women had little, if any, influence on the U.S. Constitution prior to ratification of the federal woman suffrage amendment in 1920. In this lecture, Professor Monopoli presents a more complete history that centers women in the debates around the meaning of the Reconstruction Amendments in the wake of the Civil War. Within that context, she will explore the radical idea that women not only had the capacity to self-govern via the ballot, but that they had both a natural and a constitutional right to do so.

An internationally recognized legal scholar, Professor Paula A. Monopoli has published widely on the intersection of gender and constitutional design and feminist legal history in the Yale Law Journal, among others. She is also the author and editor of four books, including "Constitutional Orphan: Gender Equality and the Nineteenth Amendment," published by Oxford University Press. Professor Monopoli received her B.A. in Political Science from Yale College and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. She has held an appointment as a Visiting Scholar at the Moller Centre, Churchill College, University of Cambridge and she is the Founding Director of the Women, Leadership & Equality Program at Maryland Carey Law.