Salons at Stowe: 114th Congress Most Diverse Yet; Still 80% White, 80% Male

Welcome to the conversation!

Welcome to the conversation!

Harriet Beecher Stowe's (1811-1896) best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), made her the most famous American woman of the 19th century and galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War.

The Stowe Center is a 21st-century museum and program center using Stowe's story to inspire social justice and positive change.

The Salons at Stowe programs are a forum to connect the challenging issues (race, gender and class) that impelled Stowe to write and act with the contemporary face of those same issues. The Salon format is based on a robust level of audience participation, with the explicit goal of promoting civic engagement. Recent topics included: Teaching Acceptance; Is Prison the New Slavery; Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North; Creativity and Change; Race, Gender and Politics Today; How to be an Advocate

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Tuesday, January 6, 2015

114th Congress Most Diverse Yet; Still 80% White, 80% Male

The 114th Congress is set to begin session today and when they do they will be the most diverse set of representatives in U.S. history. Of the 114th Congress, roughly 20% are women and 17% are non-White. Of course the reciprocal of those statistics indicate that roughly 80% of Congress is men and 83% is white.

Via DailyKos

Is your identity reflected in the 114th Congress? Check out this quiz developed by The Guardian, to determine how many individuals in Congress are like you.

How can we work to engage more identities in the political process? Are there social discourses that shape who we, as a society, think should run for public office? Are there discourses that shape who we think should be elected? How can we create a political process that is more inclusive and thus representative?

1 comment:

bcofran said...: Fascinating quiz! I was curious to see that the age breakdown starts at 45...I wonder how many younger representatives are in Congress? I've found that many in my age group (20s/30s) are disenchanted with the government and choose not to run for political office. Does that indeed reflect in Congress?; January 11, 2015 at 10:19 PM