The Superwoman: Miriam Michelson and Suffrage Activism in San Francisco with author Lori Harrison-Kahan in conversation with MI Events Director Laura Sheppard. Co-sponsored by Alta Magazine and the Jewish Community Library, San Francisco.

In this presentation, Lori Harrison-Kahan will discuss the career of writer and suffrage activist Miriam Michelson, an overlooked figure of the early women's rights movement. One of San Francisco's first women reporters in the 1890s, Michelson went on to become a bestselling author of feminist fiction like “The Superwoman,” a novella that inspired the “Wonder Woman” comics. Harrison-Kahan's talk will address Michelson's upbringing as the daughter of Jewish immigrants in Virginia City, Nevada; her influence on Progressive Era politics in San Francisco; and her relevance to contemporary movements like #MeToo.

An award-winning scholar, Lori Harrison-Kahan is the editor of The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson and the author of The White Negress: Literature, Minstrelsy, and the Black-Jewish Imaginary. She is currently working on a book about Jewish women writers, artists, and activists in San Francisco during the Progressive Era. She is a professor in the English Department at Boston College.

Laura Sheppard is Director of Events at Mechanics' Institute where she has been presenting author events, films and cultural programs since 2000. She has been a producer of festivals and public celebrations in Boston, New York and the Bay Area for over 35 years. A professionally trained actor, her solo show Paris Portraits was seen at Humanities West at the Marines Memorial Theatre and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.