Campus Life

Penn State Harrisburg to welcome feminist, activist Peggy McIntosh

Peggy McIntosh, American feminist, anti-racism activist, will speak on “Coming to See Privilege Systems: The Surprising Journey,” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, in the Olmsted Building auditorium at Penn State Harrisburg. This event is free and open to the public. 

McIntosh, associate director of the Wellesley Centers for Women, is also the founder and senior associate of National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum. She is best known for authoring the groundbreaking article "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies” (1988). This analysis and its shorter form, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (1989), have been instrumental in putting the dimension of privilege into discussions of gender, race and sexuality.

The essay set forth the concept of white privilege, a theoretical construct that has since significantly influenced anti-racist theory and practice as well as other activist movements.

McIntosh papers on white privilege have been the ones most cited on the subject around the world, according to Google Scholar. Her work has also been mentioned in the New Yorker and the Huffington Post.  

At the Wellesley Centers, she directs the Gender, Race, and Inclusive Education Project. This project provides workshops on privilege systems, feelings of fraudulence, and diversifying workplaces, teaching methods, and curriculum.

For more information on McIntosh’s papers on white privilege, visit http://bit.ly/1QbUOUD.

This event is hosted and funded by the Penn State Harrisburg Diversity and Educational Equity Committee (DEEC).

Last Updated February 29, 2016