The 2021 Alice Bacon Lecture welcomes: Baroness Doreen Lawrence
- Date: Thursday 24 June 2021, 19:00 – 20:00
- Location: Online
- Cost: Free
Anti-racism campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence OBE is to give the latest public lecture in a University of Leeds series honouring Yorkshire’s first female MP and celebrating strong women.
Baroness Lawrence will discuss Women in the public eye and her personal journey.
The event will be as follows:
- Welcome from the University of Leeds, Vice Chancellor Simone Buitendijk
- Introduction by MP Rachel Reeves, current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Lecture by Baroness Doreen Lawrence: Women in the public eye and my personal journey
- Q&A chaired by Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Co-Director of the Centre for Democratic Engagement
The annual lectures honour the achievements of Yorkshire’s first woman MP, who was elected to Parliament in the post-war Labour landslide.
The inaugural lecture was given in 2018 by Harriet Harman – the House of Commons’ longest continuously serving female MP – followed in 2019 by Baroness Hale of Richmond, who was the first female President of the Supreme Court and the country’s most senior judge until her retirement from the role last year.
Baroness Lawrence said: "It is an honour to take part in the annual Alice Bacon Lecture on 24 June, following in the footsteps of the women that have gone before me. I look forward to engaging with the attendees on the day and discussing important issues and experiences for women."
Alice Bacon was elected to represent Leeds North East in 1945 and served her city constituents continuously until her retirement a quarter of a century later, when she took up a seat in the House of Lords as a Baroness.
Leeds did not return another woman to the Commons until the election in 2010 of Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves, who is also Baroness Bacon’s biographer.
Ms Reeves partnered with the School of Politics and International Studies at the University to establish the lectures in the name of her trailblazing forebear, with the aim of celebrating the achievements of successful women – locally and nationally.