Know Her Name

In October 1991, a 35-year-old law professor sat before 14 male senators and told them, under oath, that the man nominated to sit on the Supreme Court had sexually harassed her.

Anita Hill was a tenured professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Before that, she had worked directly under Clarence Thomas at two federal agencies: the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal body created to enforce workplace harassment law. She knew him. She worked for him. She told the Senate exactly what that had been like.

The hearings were televised. Millions of Americans watched. Hill described specific incidents in specific language, on the record, in front of a committee that had the power to stop the confirmation. Thomas denied everything and called the proceedings a "high-tech lynching." The committee, all 14 members male, voted to send his nomination to the full Senate. The Senate confirmed him 52 to 48, one of the narrowest confirmation margins in Supreme Court history. Hill returned to Oklahoma. Thomas took his seat on the court, where he has served for more than 30 years.

The committee heard her. They confirmed him anyway.

Now you know her name.

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