Women at the Center

The history of women’s activism over the past 200 years is the story of countless, courageous individual women—collective action begins when just one person confronts injustice, and then another joins her, and then another. Some of these women’s names may be familiar to us, but many Black women’s stories were deliberately left out of a…

There have been moments throughout the nation’s history when individuals have acted to protect the ideals, symbols, and objects of democracy. The reports of young congressional aides carrying cases of electoral votes out of the chambers as they evacuated on January 6, 2021, under threat from insurrectionists, recalled a time during the War of 1812—indeed,…

By all accounts, 2020 was an eventful and historic, yet difficult year. From the public health crisis to social unrest and increasing activism, and from commemorating the suffrage centennial to celebrating breakthroughs in women’s political participation, Women at the Center has sought to uncover silver linings of this difficult time buried not too deeply within…

The sequel Wonder Woman 1984 is hitting theaters and HBO Max on December 25, so the Center for Women’s History is taking a look back at how the superhero character—who first appeared in a comic book in 1941—has been imagined, utilized, and contested as a feminist icon over the decades. Wonder Woman was the creation…

One of the most legendary social events in New York City history was the Black and White Ball on November 28, 1966. Hosted by author Truman Capote at the Plaza Hotel and honoring Katharine Graham, head of the Washington Post Company, the Ball propelled Graham to the center of influential new networks and sent her…