NWHM Programming for August 26, 2020
On August 26, 2020, the National Women’s History Museum will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment with a full day of free programming and the launch of its new non-partisan voter engagement initiative, Women Vote, Women Win. Programming includes two virtual “Determined to Rise” panels, several film screenings, and a concert and rally to increase votes by and for women before the November election.
August 26, 2020 • 11 a.m. ET
The earliest suffrage victories were in the west. The territory of Wyoming granted women the vote in 1869, the same year as the founding of the two national suffrage organizations. When Wyoming became a state in 1890, the new government continued to allow women to vote. Three years later, Colorado became the next woman suffrage state. Utah and Idaho followed in 1896. Suffragists from all over the country traveled to states considering new suffrage laws to advocate for their cause and, in turn, informed the woman suffrage debates that were occurring in the east.
August 26, 2020 • 2 p.m. ET
Finding Justice: The Untold Story of Women’s Fight for the Vote tells the story of how a 2,000-pound bronze bell became a celebrated symbol of the women’s suffrage movement. The creation of suffragists in Pennsylvania who were agitating for the right to vote, the Justice Bell helped rally support around the cause in the last crucial years leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment. Rosie Rios, 43rd Treasurer of the United States, will join filmmaker Amanda Owen for a discussion after the film.
August 26, 2020 • 4 p.m. ET
The conditions for African Americans in the 1890s were very challenging. Following the abolition of slavery in 1865, a prosperous period for the new emancipated slaves started during which African Americans acquired new civil rights, notably the right for Black men to vote. However, in the increasingly racist society of late 19th-century America, womanhood failed to emerge as a universal category. Although instances of interracial collaboration existed within the women’s rights movement, the club movement—so integral to African American women’s activism at the time—was not an integrated experience since African American women were officially excluded from white women’s clubs. Inherently, the position of Black women within the women’s rights movement involved far more complex issues of sexism, racism, and class bias. Join Drs. Hendricks and Philips for a discussion on African American women’s activism in the suffrage cause and the importance of the club movement in their mobilization.
August 26, 2020 • 8 p.m. ET
Inez Milholland – Forward Into Light and Into Light Film Screening and Discussion
Join this free virtual preview screening of two short films about suffragist Inez Milholland: Inez Milholland – Forward Into Light and Into Light. The films will be followed by a panel discussion with actress Amy Walker, producer Martine Melloul, and Forward Into Light filmmaker and advisor Martha Wheelock. Inez Milholland – Forward Into Light, will introduce you to Milholland, the woman who rode the white horse as a Joan of Arc on March 3, 1913. This film will be followed by Into Light, which takes us to Blanchard Hall in Los Angeles, on October 23, 1916, as Milholland addresses 1,500 cheering and curious attendees. The outcome of that evening would be an inspirational and emotional impetus for the final push for woman suffrage.
August 26, 2020 • 9 p.m. ET
Women Take the Stage Concert and Rally
The National Women’s History Museum is pleased to partner with top musicians, changemakers, and activist icons for Women Take the Stage: a free, livestreamed multi-ethnic concert and rally to increase votes by and for women before the November election. Join Gloria Steinem, Dolores Huerta, Alicia Garza, Vanessa Williams, Idina Menzel, Lily Tomlin, Billie Jean King, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Indigo Girls, BETTY, Dance Brigade, Pura Fé, DGLS, B-52s’ Kate Pierson, poet Staceyann Chin, founder of The Representation Project Jennifer Siebel Newsom, HBCU president Ruth Simmons, 3rd CTO of the U.S. /shift7 CEO Megan Smith, Time’s Up CEO Tina Tchen, ERA Coalition CEO Carol Jenkins, National LGBTQ Task Force’s Kierra Johnson, Native Action’s Gail Small, disability activist Mia Ives-Rublee, trailblazing transgender politician Andrea Jenkins, and N.Y.’s groundbreaking Attorney General, Letitia James.