Anita Hill

Anita F. Hill was born July 30, 1956 in Lone Tree, OK and received her Bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University before eventually obtaining her Law degree from Yale University. Hill’s first job was with a firm in Washington, D.C., where she served as a practicing lawyer and eventually became the assistant for Clarence Thomas at the United States Department of Education. Hill joined Thomas as a member of the legal staff for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her meeting with Thomas and subsequent service of him and his staff eventually led to a much more newsworthy event.

Anita Hill VS. Clarence Thomas

In 1991, Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court, which led to an even deeper revelation – Anita Hill had told Federal Bureau of Investigations official that Thomas had sexually harassed her while she served beneath him. Hill’s accusations were leaked to the media by the Democratic party, who sought to tarnish the name of Thomas with the accusations. Though Anita Hill was already gone and serving on the faculty of the University of Oklahoma by the time that the stories leaked to the media, she returned to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and revealed that Thomas has allegedly verbally harassed her. Though Thomas eventually denied the accusations and was essentially cleared of the charges by the United States Senate, his name and Anita Hill’s will be linked forever by this one event.

Anita Hill These Days

These days, Anita Hill no longer practices law actively like she once did, but she continues to hold a professorial position at the University of Oklahoma. In addition to Oklahoma, she also teaches at Oral Roberts University School of Law and Brandeis University. She delivers speeches of topics concerning law and is the author of Speaking Truth to the Power, a book that details her law career and, more specifically, the Clarence Thomas sexual harassment hearings.