W&L’s Annual Law and Literature Weekend Seminar to Examine Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s ‘Take My Hand’ The seminar will be hosted by Washington and Lee University School of Law and the Office of Lifelong Learning on Nov. 1-2.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
September 5, 2024

Washington and Lee University School of Law and the Office of Lifelong Learning will host the 2024 Law and Literature Weekend Seminar on Nov. 1-2. This year’s program will focus on the novel “Take My Hand,” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and feature a faculty panel discussion.

The seminar is open to the public; registration is required and can be accessed online here. The cost of registration includes a catered reception and dinner on Nov. 1 and a continental breakfast and lunch on Nov. 2.

Perkins-Valdez is a New York Times bestselling author and associate professor of literature at American University. “Take My Hand,” published in 2022, is a fictionalized account of the events behind a federally funded program in the U.S. that led to the sterilization of over 100,000 women (most of whom were poor and Black or Latina) and often depended on consent secured through coercion or from functionally illiterate guardians. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed Relf v. Weinberger in response to this program, and the case eventually led a federal court to acknowledge and condemn the practice of involuntary sterilization.

“Take My Hand” follows Civil Townsend, a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who works at a family planning clinic and witnesses the forced sterilization of two young girls and must reconcile her own moral obligations, professional responsibility and burgeoning sense of regret. The novel received the 2023 Fiction Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association; the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work-Fiction; and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award in drama and literature, which is awarded to “an outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system.”

Allison Weiss, professor of practice at W&L Law, will lead this year’s seminar, which will deal with issues of medical ethics, informed consent, reproductive rights and eugenics. Weiss, who teaches legal writing and prison litigation, will be joined by Beth Belmont, clinical professor of law, director of experiential education and director of W&L’s Community Legal Practice Clinic; Maureen Edobar, assistant professor of law; Michael Hill, professor and chair of the Africana Studies program and director of W&L’s DeLaney Center; and Dave Caudill, a former member of the W&L law faculty who now serves as the Arthur M. Goldberg Family Chair in Law at Villanova University School of Law.

“Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s ‘Take My Hand’ is incredibly moving,” Weiss said. “The novel addresses serious reproductive rights issues, including forced sterilization and access to abortion care. At the Law and Literature Seminar, I’m looking forward to discussing these issues, particularly following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, as well as the beautiful writing and compelling characters in the book.”

As a bonus to practicing attorneys, the 2024 program will again seek approval for two hours of Continuing Legal Education ethics credit. Contact the Office of Lifelong Learning at lifelong@wlu.edu for more information.