History Museum invites visitors to learn about suffragists
It’s time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the courageous women who fought for the right to vote.
The Smithsonian Institution brings its traveling exhibit Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence to Springfield’s History Museum on the Square, Aug. 17 to Sept. 28. This exhibit is a chance to broaden your understanding of the suffrage movement in the United States and learn more about local women who are political activists.
On view will be portraits of the movement’s pioneers, notably Susan B. Anthony and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, and including Carrie Chapman Catt, who devised successful state-by-state efforts to pass the amendment, and later founded the League of Women Voters to educate the newly enfranchised voters. Learn more from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
Wednesday, Aug. 26 is designated Women’s Equality Day—the date the 19th Amendment was certified. On that day members of the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri will be at the History Museum to educate and register voters, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Smithsonian exhibit addresses women’s political activism and explores the racism that challenged universal suffrage. It documents the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which prohibits the government from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote on the basis of gender.
The exhibit is free to Museum members; general admission applies. Admission is not required to visit the League’s voter registration booth.
