Kristin Lems

Kristin Lems is an American musician, singer-songwriter, feminist, and author/educator in the field of teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

Early life and education Lems grew up in Evanston, Illinois and started singing at a young age. She has an A.B. from The University of Michigan (1972) and earned master's degrees in West Asian Studies (1975) and Teaching English as a Second Language (1983) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She also earned a Doctorate of Education in Reading and Language from the National College of Education at National Louis University (2003). She spent time on a Fulbright fellowship training teachers in Algeria. In 1993, Lems joined the faculty of National Louis University, and as of 2022 she is a professor there.

Biography Lems' is known for her music and musical performances, for advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment, and for her work in the teaching of English as a second language.

Lems organized a local Womenfolk's Festival in Illinois that occurred on November 16, 1973.Basile, E. (1973, Nov. 16). Women protest, set their own folk fest. The Daily Illini pp. 22, 30 After that, she became lead organizer for the first National Women's Music Festival that was held on the campus of the University of Illinois in 1974.Willis, E. (1974, June 24). Rock, etc. Women's Music. The New Yorker 95–97Schmitz, M. & Edelson, C. (1975, July) Music Festival. off our backs 6 (6), 1, 18.Marigold. (1974). National Women's Music Festival, 1. Paid My Dues Quarterly Journal of Women & Music 1(3), 14–29; Dean, D. (1975). The Second National Women's Music Festival. Paid My Dues a journal of women and music no. 5, 22–27. Lems founded the festival because she wanted to provide more opportunities for women to perform, and she was particularly motivated after attending a folk festival with no women artists. She continued as the lead organizer through 1978.Near, H. (1990). Fire in the Rain...Singer in the Storm. William Morrow and Company, 120.Knecht, R. (1976, April 30). Kristin Lems – an Amazing Individual. The Daily Illini, 21.

Lems has performed in concerts around the United States, and is primarily known for singing in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, most notably with her song the Ballad of the ERA. In 1978, she described her goal of bringing music both to people who are politically motivated and women in general.

Selected works

Reviews for The Social Power of Music

Awards and honors Lems received the Humanist Heroine Award from the American Humanist Association in 1994. In 1996 the Freedom from Religion Foundation awarded her with their Freethought Heroine Award. In 2021, the Illinois Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/Bilingual Education awarded Lems the Elliot Judd Outstanding Teacher Award.

Kristin Lems

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