Anita Hill Biography

Anita Hill

lawyer, educator, author, activist
Born: 7/30/1956
Birthplace: Lone Tree, Okla.

Hill received her law degree from Yale University, and after a stint at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) taught law at the University of Oklahoma. In 1991 she was catapulted into the public spotlight when she brought allegations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. At Thomas's Senate confirmation hearings, Hill testified that Thomas had made unwelcome sexual advances while he was her supervisor at the EEOC in the 1980s. Although Thomas's appointment was subsequently confirmed, Hill's testimony brought the issue of sexual harassment to public attention, forever changing relations between men and women in the workplace. In 1997 Hill published Speaking Truth to Power, a personal memoir and study of her involvement in the Thomas hearings. She has resumed her teaching career at Brandeis University.