Kerry Washington is both the star and a producer of Confirmation, a new HBO movie about the 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearings. The movie, airing Apr 16, focuses on the controversy that arose during the hearings when Thomas' former employee Anita Hill came forward and testified that she had allegedly been sexually harassed by Thomas. Thomas denied all of Hills accusations and was later sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice. But Hill wasn't the only woman who accused Thomas of inappropriate behavior: Another character appears in the film — another former employee of Thomas' named Angela Wright (played by Jennifer Hudson). Wright's story is lesser know than that of Hill, as she did not testify during the Thomas hearings. But 20 years after the fact, the story is resurfacing thanks to HBO and where Angela Wright is now has become a relevant topic.
Wright has not been active in the recent discussion about Confirmation, so the information about her current whereabouts or activities is basically nonexistent. Wright has spoken about her experience with Clarence Thomas with media outlets in the past, though. In 2007 she gave an interview to NPR News' Tell Me More, in which she discussed the events that transpired before, during, and after the hearings.
Wright told Michael Martin of NPR that she came forward after hearing Hill's testimony because she, too, had allegedly been sexually harassed by Thomas when she was working under him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She claimed that she was prepared to take the stand to speak about the alleged offenses, but never got the opportunity to do so. Wright stated, "The only reason I didn't testify is because I wasn't called to testify. I was there for for three days waiting with my attorneys for the judiciary committee to call me." Wright went on to say that she was eventually told her testimony wasn't needed, but that the judiciary committee wanted to "portray me as having cold feet and backing out."
In 2016, in light of Confirmation's portrayal of Wright's interaction with the judiciary committee, the office of Vice President Joe Biden (who was the senator leading the Senate judiciary committee during Thomas' hearings) responded to the implication that Wright was not allowed to testify to CNN and according to the news organization, the office pointed to a page in the hearing transcript which states that Biden preferred that Wright testify, but supposedly, such action was barred by time constraints.
But 2007 wasn't the first time Wright spoke up. Prior to the NPR interview and HBO's film, back in 1994, journalist Florence Graves made Wright the focus on an article for The Washington Post, titled "The Other Woman." In it, Graves argued that the testimony from Wright could have potentially changed history.
Over two decades later, Wright's story is being told alongside Hill's and although Wright herself has not commented on her portrayal in the film, hopefully the depiction of her experience in Confirmation will ring true.
Images: HBO (2)
