The New-York Historical Society will open a new exhibit called “Women March,” which opens just in time for Women’s History Month celebrated in March. The exhibition commemorates the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in 1920. “Women March” also aims to explore the effort women made to expand democracy before and after the suffrage victory.
Visitors can see “Women March” from February 28th to August 30th at the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s Gallery at the museum. Guests can also experience a visceral engagement with the immersive exhibit, which features imagery and video footage of women’s collective action over time.
Bookkeepers and stenographers marching in New York City, 1911
New-York Historical Society Library
Amalgamated Clothing Workers Strike, 1915 Courtesy of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives/B’nai B’rith
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“Forgotten women,” unemployed and single, in job demand parade, World-Telegram staff photo, 1933
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs
Women activists with signs for registration, 1956
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Frances Albrier Collection. © Cox Studio
Bettye Lane
Christopher Street, 1978
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
Photo courtesy of Bettye Lane Estate
Take Back the Night, 1995
Barnard Archives and Special Collections
“Women March” is curated by Valerie Paley, the senior vice president, chief historian, and director of the Center for Women’s History, and the Center for Women’s History curational team.
The New-York Historical Society continues to inspire female empowerment with “We Rise,” a film from the Center of Women’s History that plays every hour at the Robert H. Smith Auditorium. The seventeen-minute film is narrated by Meryl Streep and features the song “We Are Here,” written and composed by Alicia Keys. “We Rise” shows the 70-year fight for suffrage and highlights activists who fought for social issues from labor conditions to birth control to racism. Activists include Lillian Ward, Addie Hunton, Margaret Sanger, Clara Lemlich, and Clara Driscoll, to name a few.
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The Upper West Side is no stranger to the Women’s March. Last January 18, the Women’s March started at 72 Central Park West at 11 AM before the crowd made its way through Columbus Circle and eventually to 43rd and 6th. The theme for the recent march was Rise and Roar, aimed to make marchers’ voices heard but also recognizing those who spoke out on economic rights and equal justice for women.
Learn more about the “Women March” exhibit here.
More upcoming exhibits + performances:
