Clara Bingham

Award-Winning Journalist & Author of The Movement

Clara Bingham

Award-Winning Journalist & Author of The Movement

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Biography

Clara Bingham is an award-winning journalist and author whose work has focused on social justice and women’s issues. She is the author of four books. Her latest, The Movement: How Women’s Liberation Transformed America 1963-1973 (Simon & Schuster, 2024), is the first oral history of the second wave feminist movement. Bingham lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Clara Bingham is an award-winning journalist, and author whose work has focused on social justice and women’s issues. Her most recent book The Movement: How Women’s Liberation Remade America 1963-1973 (Simon & Schuster, 2024) was a best seller and received rave reviews. The Movement is written in a similar oral history narrative style to her previous book, Witness to the Revolution: Radicals, Resisters, Vets, Hippies, and the Year America Lost its Mind and Found its Soul (Random House 2016). Bingham’s second book, Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law, which she co-wrote with Laura Leedy Gansler, (Doubleday in 2002) was adapted into the 2005 feature film North Country (Warner Bros), for which Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand both won Oscar nominations. Bingham is also the author of Women on the Hill: Challenging the Culture of Congress (Times Books 1997).

Bingham produced the 2011 feature documentary The Last Mountain which premiered at the Sundance Film festival. Earlier, Bingham worked as a Washington, D.C. correspondent for Newsweek where she covered the White House and 1992 presidential campaign. Her free-lance writing has appeared in many publications including, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Ms., Vogue, The Washington Monthly, and United Press International. Bingham graduated from Harvard University in 1985 with a degree in History and Literature. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband Joseph Finnerty. The paperback of The Movement will be released in March 2026.

Speaker Videos

Clara Bingham Speaking Reel

The Movement: How Women's Liberation Transformed America 1963-1973 Clara Bingham

Seriously Entertaining: Clara Bingham on “Be Not Afraid”

Speech Topics

The Women’s Movement: Then & Now

In this powerful and timely keynote, Clara Bingham draws on her extensive research and more than 100 firsthand interviews to illuminate the extraordinary women who fueled the second-wave feminist movement and transformed American society. Through vivid storytelling, she revisits a time when women faced deep legal, economic, and cultural barriers and shows how a generation of organizers, activists, and everyday citizens changed the nation’s consciousness and laws. Bingham reveals how landmark moments such as Title IX, the Women’s Strike for Equality, and the fight for reproductive freedom grew from grassroots courage and collective action. She then connects those hard-won gains to the challenges facing women today, showing how the lessons of the past offer a blueprint for navigating backlash and continuing the fight for equality. This keynote is both a history lesson and a call to action, reminding audiences that progress is never guaranteed and every generation must help move it forward.

Audiences will learn:

How grassroots organizing and everyday leadership fueled the breakthroughs of the modern women’s movement.
What pivotal moments like Title IX, reproductive rights activism, and the Women’s Strike for Equality reveal about how social change actually happens.
How the strategies and courage of past generations can guide today’s efforts to advance equality and protect hard-won rights.

Telling America’s Truth: A People’s History of Protest & Power

As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, how do we tell the full story of American democracy? In this powerful keynote, Clara Bingham draws from her acclaimed books including Witness to the Revolution, Women on the Hill, and The Movement to explore how ordinary people have shaped the country through protest, advocacy, and civic courage. Through vivid storytelling and first-person accounts, Bingham reveals how grassroots movements have repeatedly pushed the nation toward its ideals. Her work highlights the voices that history books often overlook and the individuals who risked everything to demand change. This keynote is both a reflection on the past and an invitation to engage with the unfinished work of democracy today.

Audiences will learn:

How grassroots activism and protest movements have shaped American democracy across generations.
Why amplifying overlooked voices is essential to understanding the nation’s history.
What the lessons of past movements reveal about civic engagement and democratic participation today.

Life Before Roe v. Wade: A Historical Look at Women’s Rights and Reproductive Freedom

Before Roe v. Wade, reproductive healthcare in the United States was often criminalized, forcing many women to navigate dangerous and deeply constrained circumstances. In this powerful historical keynote, Clara Bingham brings to life the untold stories of women who lived through that era and the activists who helped spark a modern movement for reproductive rights. Drawing from extensive reporting and firsthand narratives, she explores how these experiences fueled organizing, advocacy, and legal change across the country. Bingham situates these stories within the broader arc of women’s rights in America, offering audiences a deeper understanding of the social and political forces that shaped the fight for reproductive freedom. Both illuminating and thought-provoking, this talk invites reflection on how history informs the debates and decisions shaping the present.

Audiences will learn:

What life was like for women seeking reproductive healthcare before Roe v. Wade.
How grassroots organizing and advocacy helped shape the modern women’s rights movement.
Why understanding this history is essential for informed civic dialogue today.

Lessons from the Women’s Liberation Movement: Organizing, Activism & Social Change

The Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 70s reshaped American society through grassroots organizing, bold activism, and collective courage. In this illuminating keynote, Clara Bingham draws on years of research and interviews to bring the movement’s defining moments and voices to life. Through vivid stories of organizers, protestors, and everyday women who challenged entrenched systems, she reveals the strategies and solidarity that helped drive lasting change. Bingham connects these historical lessons to the present, showing how the tools of past movements continue to inform today’s efforts for equality and justice. This talk reminds audiences that history is not just something to study, but a foundation for the work still ahead.

Audiences will learn:

How grassroots organizing fueled the momentum of the Women’s Liberation Movement.
What strategies and leadership approaches helped transform activism into systemic change.
How lessons from past movements can inform effective organizing and advocacy today.