Celebrating the 2020 Suffrage Centennial
NOTE: The History Museum us currently closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are sorry if you were unable to see this exhibition. Please enjoy the Suffrage Special Whistle Stop Tour videos on our YouTube channel for some terrific Washington suffrage history.
Washington women led the way! The Washington State Historical Society’s exhibition, Votes for Women: 100 Years and Counting, is an intriguing look at the history of the women’s suffrage movement. Focusing on both the national story and our state’s story, this exhibition explains how Washington women contributed to the eventual ratification of the 19th Amendment. Votes for Women is a vibrant celebration of female achievements in politics and society.
This exhibition invites visitors to learn by turning the galleries into an immersive game focused on women and voting rights. Learn the who, what, where, why and why not of Washington’s suffrage battle. Find out who could legally cast a ballot and who could not during the history of the on-again-off-again vote for women. Journey through an interactive timeline, voting at key spots along the way, to understand the importance of voting to our society and how women’s suffrage has impacted and affected our nation over time. You’ll come out knowing the names of those who fought for this basic constitutional right, and you’ll appreciate your right to vote as never before!
The curators of this exhibition, Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring, are the authors and artists behind the book Dead Feminists: Historic Heroines in Living Color. Votes for Women will be richly illustrated with work created by O’Leary and Spring exclusively for this exhibition as well as historic objects and ephemera from the Washington State Historical Society collections.
Thank you: WSHM exhibitions and events are generously supported by the Norcliffe Foundation, South Sound Magazine, and Humanities Washington.
