Bryant Simon — For Customers Only: Public Bathrooms and the Making of American Inequality - with Benjamin Talton

Bryant Simon presents *For Customers Only: Public Bathrooms and the Making of American Inequality*, a history of how access to restrooms shapes dignity, freedom of movement, and participation in public life. In conversation with Benjamin Talton, Simon examines why many American public spaces lack safe, functional bathrooms and how restroom access has become a measure of social power and civic belonging.

The book traces the rise of lavish “comfort stations” in the late nineteenth century, followed by growing fears about who might use them—including gay men, unhoused people, and drug users. It also considers the closure of public toilets rather than their integration during the civil rights era, the shift toward bathrooms available primarily to paying customers, current conflicts over transgender rights, and renewed municipal efforts to build public restrooms for economic development rather than as a basic public service.

When: Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Showtime: 7:00 p.m.

Venue: Politics and Prose at The Wharf, 610 Water St SW, Washington, DC 20024

Tickets: Free

Seating: First come, first served.

Featured speaker: Bryant Simon, Laura H. Carnell Professor of History and academic chair of the honors program at Temple University. He is also the author of *The Hamlet Fire: The Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives* and *Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks*.

Conversation partner: Benjamin Talton, executive director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center and a professor of history at Howard University. His books include *The Politics of Social Change in Ghana: The Konkomba Struggle for Political Equality* and *In This Land of Plenty: Mickey Leland and Africa in American Politics*, which received the 2020 Wesley-Logan Prize from the American Historical Association.

Event book: *For Customers Only: Public Bathrooms and the Making of American Inequality* by Bryant Simon, a hardcover published September 8, 2026, priced at $32.50.

Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. Requests will be considered up to the event time.