Skidompha Library's “Chats with Champions” Committee announced that academician and political scientist, Kathy Ferguson, will be the featured speaker on Thursday, Sept. 20 beginning at 10 a.m. The Skidompha Library is at 184 Main St. in Damariscotta. Attendees should allow time to park their vehicles before the program begins. 

Ferguson's topic will be “Emma Goldman's America: Anarchist Women in Progressive Politics, 1869-1940.”   

Ferguson's most recently published book, “Emma Goldman, Political Thinking in the Streets,” explores the life and work of the famous anarchist feminist leader.

Emma Goldman is the most famous anarchist feminist leader of the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries. 

Struggles to legalize birth control, liberate sexuality, reform education, unionize workplaces, overthrow capitalism, protect free speech, create alternative communities, and end war were all venues for Goldman’s politics.  Two misconceptions persist regarding Goldman’s place in U.S. history: that she was a lone woman within a male-dominant movement, and that she was an isolated pariah within the larger society. According to Ferguson's analysis, neither of these common beliefs stands up to historical scrutiny: Goldman was in fact part of a vibrant network of thousands of radical women, working closely with progressives of many stripes. 

Reclaiming the contributions of Goldman and the anarchist movement to our history, Ferguson believes, gives Americans a more vigorous progressive past upon which to imagine a better future.

Ferguson is professor at the University of Hawaii. In addition to her recent book on Emma Goldman, she co-authored a book about the military in Hawaii “Oh, Say, Can You See? The Semiotics of the Military in Hawai'i,” with Phyllis Turnbull and with co-editor Monique Mironesco, she edited a volume of essays “Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific.” She lives in Honolulu.
The “Chats” series is sponsored by The First, 223 Main St., Damariscotta, a community bank that has grown to serve customers at 14 branches along Maine’s coast. For more information, call 563-5513.