Loretta Ross: How We All Get Free Series

Join us for Iliff’s Pulpit+ Exchange Series, an inspiring series of in-person and virtual gatherings where clergy, lay leaders, activists, scholars, ministers, journalists, and community organizers come together to wrestle with the most pressing questions of our time. Together, we’ll explore powerful stories of hope, healing, and action—each rooted in a shared vision of justice and liberation.

Caran Ware Joseph will be in conversation with Loretta Ross, discussing Loretta Ross’s life, work in human rights and reproductive rights, and social justice. She will also talk about how she gave up hate and chose love as a way to free each person she encounters, even those who do not wish her well. She will give us guidance on how we can engage in compassionate conversations with those who are creating a climate of oppression, inequality, insecurity, and divisiveness.

Loretta J. Ross is an activist, public intellectual, scholar, the 2022 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award, and an Associate Professor at Smith College. She has a passion for innovating, creative imagining about global human rights and social justice issue,s and started her career in activism and social change in the 1970s. In 1978, she was the third executive director for the DC Rape Crisis Center, the first rape crisis center in the country. This was her entry point into the women’s movement, where she learned about women’s human rights, reproductive justice, white supremacy, and women of color organizing. Through her organizing, she helped launch the movement to end violence against women that has evolved into today’s #MeToo movement.

Throughout her 50-year career, she has worked with the National Football League Players’ Association, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Black Women’s Health Project, the Center for Democratic Renewal (National Anti-Klan Network), the National Center for Human Rights Education, and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.

Loretta retired as an organizer in 2012 to teach and follow her passion to educate. In 1996, she founded the first center in the U.S. to innovate creative human rights education for all students, transforming social justice issues to be more collaborative and less divisive. In her work Calling In the Calling Out Culture, she transforms how people can overcome political differences to use empathy and respect to guide difficult conversations. In 2023, Loretta was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

What to Expect Each Evening:

5:00 – 5:45 PM (MST): Light meal and connection

5:45 PM: Lecture begins, followed by Q&A and deep discussion

Location: In-person at Iliff or online via livestream. Unable to attend in person? Register to receive the livestream link.

Because change starts in community. This is a space to be challenged and inspired, while meeting others who share your passion for faith-rooted justice, equity, and collective liberation.

Come for one evening or all. Stay for the conversation. Leave with new energy, new insights, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Whether you’re a faith leader, community builder, or someone seeking meaningful connection, this is more than a lecture series—it’s an invitation to be part of a growing network of changemakers committed to building a more just and equitable world.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Iliff School of Theology