Marking a milestone for women in state government, Marlene M. Johnson became Minnesota's first woman lieutenant governor under Rudy Perpich's gubernatorial administration in January 1983. That same year, she met her husband, Peter, and their deeply loving relationship profoundly sustained her for twenty-seven years. Rise to the Challenge weaves these personal and professional stories together in a courageous portrait of dedication and leadership.

Growing up in rural Minnesota, Johnson began organizing and advocating for change early, beginning with a campaign to introduce foreign languages into her high school curriculum. Pursuing a deeply felt commitment to improving the lives of others, she continued to sharpen her leadership skills throughout her life, participating in activist work in college, cofounding organizations to support women entrepreneurs and politicians, and eventually running an international education nonprofit.

A stalwart supporter, her husband gave Marlene strength and encouragement to face the challenges of the political landscape and its gender biases. Then, in 2010, he suffered a traumatic brain injury that would change both of their lives. Learning how to be a medical advocate and, eventually, facing the sorrow of Peter's death, Marlene relied on the hard-fought resilience and belief in herself that Peter had helped her to develop.

A story of learning and leadership in politics, business, and public service, Rise to the Challenge is a moving portrayal of spirit, perseverance, and grace in the face of daunting personal challenges, supported by unwavering faith in the public good.

Marlene M. Johnson was Minnesota's first woman lieutenant governor, serving in Governor Rudy Perpich's administration from 1983 until 1991. She is cofounder of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Minnesota Women's Campaign Fund and was executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators for nearly two decades. She is now on the advisory board of Kakenya's Dream, a board member of the Washington Office on Latin America, and a trustee of The Alexandria Trust. In 1988, she was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by the Kingdom of Sweden. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Johnson  will be in conversation with Elisabeth Griffith. Historian Elisabeth Griffith is an author, activist, and expert on American women’s history.  Her biography of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, IN HER OWN RIGHT was hailed by both Oprah and the Wall Street Journal as “one of the five best books on women’s history.” It was the basis of Ken Burns’ documentary on Stanton and Anthony, NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE, his only film about women’s history. Betsy’s new book, FORMIDABLE: AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE FIGHT FOR EQUALITY, 1920-2020, is an “engaging, relevant, sweeping chronicle,” according to the New York Times, “a multiracial, inclusive timeline of the struggles and triumphs of both Black and white women. A profoundly illuminating tour de force.” A graduate of Wellesley College with a doctorate from American University, Betsy worked to expand women’s rights and elect women candidates with the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Campaign Fund.  She has been teaching women’s history for forty years.  Her twenty-two-year tenure as head of the Madeira School for girls, in McLean, Virginia, earned the Washington Post’s Distinguished Educational Leadership Award.  A member of the Society of American Historians and Veteran Feminists of America, she has been a Kennedy Fellow at Harvard and a Klingenstein Fellow at Columbia. Recently Betsy has been posting essays online about women’s lives past and present, called PINK THREADS, on Substack.com.

This event is free with first come, first serve seating.