Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide
November 2003
Speaking Truth to Power
by Anita Hill
More than seven years after her astonishing testimony in the Clarence Thomas hearings, Anita Hill reflects on the hearings and sheds new light on this event...
- The Hill-Thomas encounters took place in 1982, but she didn't tell her story (on the record, anyway) until 1991. A great deal was made of this in the hearings. Do you accept her explanations for the delay, and for coming forward with the story in 1991, when the stakes were much higher? Have you ever kept a story to yourself and then told it later? What happened?
- In a Nation article law professor Patricia J. Williams says that the most interesting aspect of Hill's book "is Hill's exploration of the tension in living one's life in a world so invested in its images of race and gender." Do you agree? Why? If not, what was the most interesting aspect to you?
- Continuing in this article she quotes Hill: "One of the things I've had to deal with is that people create their own [realities] of who I should be." Do you now think you "know" Anita Hill and who she is? Did she "speak truth" to herself? With all the details she provides, I still feel as if I'm being held at arm's length. Did you get that feeling? Why do you suppose this is?
- Putting interest in the subject matter aside, how did you find her writing style? What devices did she employ to move the story along? Did you think it a good read?
- Did you see the hearings? If so, do you remember very much of it? Did your recollection of the hearings affect your reading of this book, or did the reading of the book affect your recollections and/or opinions?
- Have you ever been in a situation like the one Anita Hill found herself in? Have you ever had a story to tell, but were accused of lying or exaggeration? Have you ever had to tell your story in a situation where the stakes were very high and important consequences followed from the telling?
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