CommentsBCK FILE--Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a judicial rock star. And Angelenos, as well as our visiting friends and family, are fortunate to have the first museum exhibition to focus on the Supreme Court Associate Justice at the Skirball Cultural Center here in Los Angeles.
“Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” which will run through March 10, 2019, is a retrospective organized by the innovators of a meme that provided the diminutive legal powerhouse her nickname, according to the Los Angeles Times.
This year marks 25 years since President Bill Clinton appointed Hon. Ginsburg to the SCOTUS and she’s become somewhat of a cultural icon, inspiring artists and millennials alike. The exhibit is a treasure of legal documents, photographs, home movies, art, and details of important court cases throughout the Justice’s career.
The Skirball retrospective complements the CNN documentary RGB, which introduced many to Ginsburg’s trailblazing career as a legal leader in the women’s rights movement. The feminist icon will be featured in the Focus Features biopic On the Basis of Sex to be released this Christmas.
The second female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where she excelled in school, despite the challenges brought by her mother’s battle with cervical cancer throughout Ruth’s high school years. Her mother died the day before Ruth’s graduation and she went on to study at Cornell University, where she met her husband Marty and graduated first in her class.
Ruth and Marty married and went on to Harvard Law School in the days when a legal education for women was exceedingly rare. When Marty was offered a position at a New York firm, Ruth fought to transfer to Columbia Law School without losing credits. Despite her husband’s health challenges and the obstacles faced by women in law, Ruth went on to teach at Rutgers University Law School and Columbia University, where she became the first female tenured professor.
Throughout her career, Ginsburg has been a leader, serving as director of Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 70s and was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980.
Now more than ever, it’s so crucial to recognize the contributions of those who spearheaded the civil rights movements that moved our country in the right direction during the sixties and seventies. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a national treasure and hearing her story gives us hope.
If you are in the Los Angeles area, don’t miss the important exhibit. Tickets are available at the door and included with general admission. A family guide is available on the museum website and public tours are available Tuesday through Friday, 1-2 pm, as well as Saturday-Sunday, 12-1 pm and 1-2 pm. A “Notorious Teen Night” will be held Saturday, December 15 from 6-10 pm.
(Beth Cone Kramer is a professional writer living in the Los Angeles area. She covers Resistance Watch and other major issues for CityWatch.)
-cw
