The League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area presents
"She Shapes History:" American Women and the Right to Vote
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What:
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A seven-panel exhibit about the fight for the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote.
On display in seven storefront windows on Main and Maple streets in Florence Center.
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Date:
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The exhibit opens Saturday, April 3, 2021 and is on display until mid-May.
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Presented
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The League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area in collaboration with the Florence Civic and Business Association, JFK Middle School, the David Ruggles Center and businessess and organizations like the Trustees of Reservations.
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Grand Opening:
Saturday, April 10, 2021 at 10 am
A short outdoor opening. Gather outside at the Florence Civic Center.
Saturday, April 10, 2021 at 10 am
A short outdoor opening. Gather outside at the Florence Civic Center.
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The visiting exhibit “She Shapes History” opens Saturday, April 3, 2021 in seven storefronts in Florence Center. Visitors can view the panels in business windows during daylight hours through mid-May. All are welcome to attend a short outdoor opening gathering Saturday, April 10, 2021 at 10 AM outside Florence Civic Center.
Well-researched informational panels celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution through which women won the right to vote. They tell the stories of unsung heroes, including local suffragists Elizabeth Freeman (Mumbet) and Sojourner Truth. |
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Also included are the foot soldiers including those from African American women’s suffrage clubs, immigrant women, Native American women, factory workers and labor union organizers. It covers the struggle and the impact of activist women over two centuries up to the Woman’s March of 2016. It aligns with the League of Women Voters’ mission to “finish the fight” by promoting access to the vote for all. This has been a focus of initiatives by the LWV, which was formed shortly after the passage of the 19th Amendment, and continues to actively work for equal access to the vote today.
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The exhibit is on loan from The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield where it originated. It is presented in a series of panels that have been impeccably researched and include period photos and text with details of the activism of suffragists, many of whom had been too often forgotten in historical records. The League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area is bringing the exhibit to Florence in collaboration with the Florence Civic and Business Association, JFK Middle School, the David Ruggles Center and businesses and organizations like the Trustees of Reservations. Visitors will be able to view the panels from the sidewalk – socially distanced – an opportunity for a museum quality experience in a safe way, especially as spring gives us hope and reminds us of the vibrancy and history of our local community. Members of the League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area, which was founded in 1922, have been especially interested in learning about the unsung heroes of the fight for women’s suffrage as they planned events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the amendment. A book group meeting at Lilly Library in the fall of 2019 pursued the topic. Members developed lists of both adult and young adult books for librarians and educators about these activists, including Florence resident Sojourner Truth. When area members of the League of Women Voters were able to secure the loan of the exhibit, a location in Florence was a natural choice because of the historical connections to Sojourner Truth who lived in Florence from the mid-1840s to the late 1850s. Health safety concerns resulting from the pandemic suggested the outdoor walking tour of the exhibit. In planning this exhibit members of the LWV have been collaborating with teachers at JFK Middle School who have used the material as significant portions of their March Women in History curriculum studies. Local middle school students, who have developed expertise on the topic of the suffragist heroes of history, are expected to tour the exhibit for follow-up studies. Membership in the League of Women Voters is open to all who are interested. More information about local LWV activities can be found at the local LWV website lwvnorthamptonarea.org . 
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Locations of Exhibit
Quotes from History
We are now trying for liberty that requires no blood—that women shall have their rights, not rights from you. Give them what belongs to them. Sojourner Truth The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers, embodied and made alive…..Millions of women dead and gone are speaking through us today. Matilda Joslyn Gage, suffragist, Native American rights activist and abolitionist The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them Ida B. Wells LIFTING AS WE CLIMB, onward and upward, struggling and striving, and hoping that the buds and blossoms of our desires will burst into glorious fruition ere long …….we knock at the bar of justice seeking an equal chance. Mary Church Terrell I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I am changing the things I cannot accept. Angela Davis When I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough women on the Supreme Court, I say when there are nine. People are shocked. For most of the country’s history there were nine, and they were all men. Nobody thought that was strange. Ruth Bader Ginsberg |