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,…
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Saving the Symbols of Democracy: Dolley Madison in 1814
January 8, 2021
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,…
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Fighting Back: Women of Color and the Ongoing Struggle for Citizenship Beyond the Vote
August 20, 2020
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has upended plans to celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment on August 26. In addition to the practical obstacles like the closure of indoor spaces and the suspension of large gatherings, political considerations complicate the commemoration. How are we to celebrate the 19th Amendment when many non-white women remained barred…
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“Get Ready to Vote:” Black Women after the Voting Rights Act
August 17, 2020
There are numerous accounts and retellings of momentous civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s. Perhaps most notable is the march from Selma to Montgomery, AL, which took three attempts and federal protection for activists to reach their destination safely on March 25, 1965, and which pushed President Lyndon B. Johnson to send voting rights legislation…
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Obstacles to Suffrage after 1920
August 13, 2020
The ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 was an expansive political step, representing years of work from a diverse range of women’s activists. However, the 19th Amendment technically did not “give” women the right to vote: it prohibited states from using sex as a barrier to the franchise: “The right of citizens of the…
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“Girls in Caps and Gowns”: The Deltas March for Suffrage
August 10, 2020
One of the central goals of the New-York Historical Society’s exhibition Women March is to emphasize the diverse and abounding character of women’s activism over the past 200 years. The Center for Women’s History’s curatorial team wanted to move visitors away from a preconceived notion of “the suffrage movement,” or a movement headed by a…
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White Supremacy and the Suffrage Movement
August 7, 2020
A drab broadside in the collection of the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library at the New-York Historical Society has enjoyed pride of place in two exhibitions: Women March, on view when we reopen the Museum on Sept. 11, and the 2017–2018 show Hotbed. It might not look like much, but it’s actually a crucial document in…
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