Helen Knowles is an Associate Professor of History at Oswego State University of New York. She received her Ph.D. from Boston University. She teaches classes in American law and politics, and politics and film. Her research focuses on legal history. She is the author of The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty (2009; 2018 – updated paperback); Judging Free Speech: First Amendment Jurisprudence of Supreme Court Justices (co-edited with Steven B. Lichtman); She won the Hughes-Gossett award from the Supreme Court Historical Society for the best student article on Supreme Court history in 2006.
The lecture is inspired by her newly published book, Making Minimum Wage: Elsie Parrish v. The West Coast Hotel Company.