James Smith, professor of English at Boston College, has turned advocate for the victims of the Magdalen laundries. The last two centuries, thousands of women (many undocumented) were forced to work in the Magdalen Laundries operated by various orders of the Catholic Church. Many of these girls and women were deemed “fallen women”: single mothers, some victims of incest and rape, and some prostitutes; while others were young girls abandon by families unable to care for them.  They were hidden away from society, some mandated by the Irish state while others had no official sentence thus no mandate as to when they were to be released. There they were forced into the laundry business.  The last laundry closed in 1996. A number lived and died within those walls.

Professor Smith will be here on March 11, 2011 to discuss his research and his advocacy. For more information on his book: http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P01180.

Where: Saint Mary’s University Campus Halifax – Sobey building in room 260

When: Friday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.