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• Bio: Gwendolyn Fowler is a Ph.D. candidate studying 20th Century African American History. Her research focuses on the West Side Mothers, Detroit’s first welfare rights organization and how amidst the rampant demonization of welfare programs and recipients in the 70s, the Mothers wielded their motherhood to sustain their activism into the 21st century. Gwen received her Bachelor of Arts in History from Rutgers University-Newark and a Master of Arts in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College.