Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 30, 2020.

Carol Jenkins is Co-President and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality, sister organizations dedicated to the passage and enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment. The Coalition is comprised of over 100 organizations and leaders across the country, and provides research, education and advocacy on the issues of constitutional equality, working on the state and federal levels with advocates and legislators. In January of 2020 the state of Virginia ratified the ERA, becoming the 38th and final state required; in February the House of Representatives dissolved the time limit. Action in the Senate is needed next. In her first visit to Chautauqua, Jenkins will discuss this progress on what she describes as an “extremely essential” Constitutional amendment.

A women’s rights activist, author and Emmy Award-winning former television journalist, Jenkins hosts the three-time New York Emmy-nominated interview show, “Black America,” on CUNY TV, and is also executive producer, writer and correspondent of its documentaries. Founding president of The Women’s Media Center and a pioneering African American television reporter, Jenkins was an anchor and correspondent for WNBC-TV in New York for nearly 25 years. She hosted “Carol Jenkins Live,” her own daily talk show, on WNYW-TV. Early in her career she co-hosted one of the first daily public affairs programs in New York City, “Straight Talk” on WOR-TV; and co-hosted “Positively Black” for WNBC TV, one of the earliest television programs dedicated to Black issues in the United States.

She was a 2017 recipient of the Sackler First Award, given to women who are pioneers in their fields. Among other numerous honors are the Lifetime Achievement and International Reporting Awards from The Association of Black Journalists/NY; the 2008 Women’s Equality Award from The National Council of Women’s Organizations; and the North Star News Prize.

Jenkins earned a B.A. from Boston University and an M.A. from New York University, where she was honored as a Distinguished Alumna.

This program is made possible by the Travis E. and Betty J. Halford Lectureship Endowment.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.