The 20th Annual Gus and Libby Solomon Memorial Lecture - 2025

 

Dr. Rachel Kranson

 

“Religious Misconceptions: 

American Jews and the Politics of Abortion"

 

 

Held on Thursday, February 27, 2025

7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

University Place Hotel and Conference Center

 310 SW Lincoln St, Portland, OR 97201

 

Liberal, religious Jews strongly advocated for legal abortion between the 1970s and the turn of the twenty-first century. On what grounds did they argue for reproductive rights, and why did they consider it an important priority? Join Dr. Rachel Kranson as she shares from her forthcoming volume Religious Misconceptions: American Jews and the Politics of Abortion. Kranson will uncover the history of the American Jewish lawyers and activists who advocated for abortion access to be protected by the guarantees of the first amendment of the constitution. Their efforts have become even more significant as the US enters a post-Roe era, and experts are looking for new legal avenues through which to protect reproductive freedom.
 

 

 

Rachel Kranson Square Headshot

  Dr. Rachel Kranson,  University of Pittsburgh

  

February 27, 2025

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm PT

A free in-person event held at University Place Hotel and Conference Center, 310 SW Lincoln St, Portland, OR 97201

Registration: Closed

Support this event: Make a donation to the Gus and Libby Solomon Lecture Series Endowment.

Biography:

Dr. Rachel Kranson is Director of Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. A scholar of post-WWII American Jewish history, gender, and sexuality, she is the author of Ambivalent Embrace: Jewish Upward Mobility in Postwar America (2017, finalist for the Immigrant and Ethnic History Society First Book Award) and the co-editor of A Jewish Feminine Mystique: Jewish Women in Postwar America (2010, finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in women’s studies). Dr. Kranson has held fellowships at the Frankel Center for Advanced Jewish Studies at the University of Michigan and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University, and her writing has appeared in academic journals as well as popular venues like The Washington Post, Lilith, and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Dr. Kranson has held leadership positions at the Jewish Women’s Archive, the Center for Jewish History, the American Jewish Historical Society, and the Association for Jewish Studies. Her current book manuscript, tentatively titled Religious Misconceptions, focuses on American Jewish engagement in abortion politics during the era of Roe V. Wade.

 

Get to know Rachel Kranson

Books:

  • Ambivalent Embrace: Jewish Upward Mobility in Postwar America (2017, finalist for the Immigrant and Ethnic History Society First Book Award) 
  • Co-editor of A Jewish Feminine Mystique: Jewish Women in Postwar America (2010, finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in women’s studies).

Articles:

Kranson's writing has appeared in academic journals as well as popular venues like The Washington Post, Lilith, and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

 

Plan your trip!

Please note that parking availability is limited onsite at the hotel and the rate is $3 per hour. As an alternative to parking, you may wish to travel by MAX. The Orange Line stops directly in front of the hotel. The stop ID is 13710. Here is a link to help you plan your trip: https://trimet.org/home/planner

Be sure to register ahead, bring your ticket, and plan to arrive by 7:20pm. Doors to the lecture hall will open approximately 7:20pm and ticket holders first in line will be seated ahead of late arrivals. 

The 20th Annual Gus and Libby Solomon Memorial Lecture is presented by the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University. Sponsored by Richard B. Solomon and Alyce Flitcraft. Cosponsors include Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Oregon Jewish Community Foundation, PSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, PSU Department of History, PDX Hillel, and the PSU Jewish Student Union.

Support this annual event: Make a donation to the Gus and Libby Solomon Lecture Series Endowment.

 

 

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