Reclaiming Anita
After her 1991 testimony in the Clarence Thomas hearings, Anita Hill became a symbol of the battle against sexual harassment. But in anticipation of her appearance in Santa Cruz, Hill talks to Good Times about the personal toll of sparking a political movement
Before Anita Hill, there was no national conversation about sexual harassment. And the way it started in 1991 was about as unlikely as anyone could have imagined—Clarence Thomas had been nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President George Bush, and in fact his Senate confirmation hearings were already over. That’s when Hill’s interview with the FBI, in which she accused Thomas (who had been her supervisor at two previous jobs) of sexual harassment, was leaked to the media.