Show us what a feminist looks like! New-York Historical’s exhibition Women March (now closed) explored the role women played in protest and change, and through these @ Home activities you’ll dig into this history. You will:
- Learn about the power of collective action both before and after the historic 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted some women the right to vote.
- Discover the stories of powerful women who shaped American history.
- Explore history through hands-on and research-based project prompts!
Women March Exhibition at New-York Historical
For as long as there has been a United States, American women have organized to shape the nation’s politics and to secure their rights as citizens. Their collective action has taken many forms: from abolitionist petitioning to industry-wide garment strikes to massive marches. Yet too often, the importance of this work is overshadowed by more famous leaders who are given credit for their work at the expense of women. The exhibition Women March celebrated the centennial (100 year anniversary) of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in 1920. And further, the exhibition explored the contributions of a diverse group of women who shaped American democracy before and after the suffrage victory.
Women March: Early Activism and Abolitionism
In this section, you will learn about early forms of women’s activism in the United States, including how women played an important role in fighting for the abolition (end) of slavery. You will research women from this time period to write a Women March biography entry, create a rebus ribbon, and interview a woman in your family.
1820 – 1859 “Our Souls Have Caught the Flame” — Maria W. Stewart
A century before the 19th Amendment was passed, American women organized to make change. Without being able to vote, Black and white women found ways to promote change through advocacy, charity, and organizing. They established themselves as a force of transformation in the United States. Women were driven by religious fervor (energy) to create hundreds of volunteer organizations. These groups focused on an poverty, an slavery, labor reform, and more. However, their ability to change policies was always limited by their lack of political power (no vote!). A key moment in this period was the women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848. Attendees declared that they would seek equality, full citizenship, and the vote!
1860 – 1894 “We ask suffrage not as a favor, not as a privilege, but as a right.” — Charlotte Rollin
During the Civil War, American women found new ways to change their roles in society. Their paid and unpaid work helped to keep the country going during the war and to rebuild it afterward. Suffragists are people fighting for the right to vote for all people, often associated with women specifically. Black and white women suffragists were part of the abolitionist movement (fight to end slavery). However, they did not all agree on which women should get the right to vote. Some white women believed that they should get the right to vote over Black Americans, immigrants, and Indigenous People. Black suffragists and some white suffragists believed that all women should have the right to vote. Still others believed that legal protection, access to jobs, and financial independence were also key elements of the fight for abolition and women’s rights.
Women suffragists believed that voting was a right of U.S. citizenship. They believed that once they had the right to vote they could make many more changes around civil rights and other inequities. While there were different opinions within the abolition and early suffragist movements, they decided to come together in 1890. They formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), a unified group fighting for the right to vote for women.
Watch our re-creation of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s 1866 address to the National Woman’s Rights Convention:
Meet some of the women from this period in American history – 1820-1894. Choose one to research further, and use our template to create your own biography entry for them.
- Sarah Mapps Douglass (1806-1882) was born into a prominent free Black family in the North. Douglass was an educator at the Institute for Colored Youth.
- Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (1825 – 1911) was one of the first Black American Women to have her own work published in the United States. She was also a sought-after (popular) orator, who called out for women’s rights and an end to slavery.
- Mary Jane Paterson (1840 – 1894) was the first Black American woman to receive a bachelor’s degree. She went on to become a high school teacher.
- Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879) was the first American born woman to speak publicly to mixed-gendered audiences. She gave many lectures concerning emancipation, women’s rights, and racial prejudice.
- Madam C. J. Walker (1867 – 1919), born Sarah Breedlove, was the first member of her family to be born into freedom and the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire. She made her fortune inventing and selling hair and beauty products for Black women.
- Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825 – 1907) was an author, educator, and temperance advocate (limiting alcohol consumption in the US). In 1866, she became the first ever Black American woman on a college faculty.
Download this template to track your research and create your own Women March biography!
Hands-On: Rebus Ribbon
Download these directions to make a rebus ribbon inspired by one that Belva Lockwood (women’s right activist and suffragette) used to campaign for the presidency in 1888!
Interview a Woman in Your Family
Download these directions to conduct an interview with a female family member to learn more about an amazing woman in your life.
New-York Historical Society Library
Women March: 19th Amendment
In this section you will learn about the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. You will also learn that many women were excluded from voting based on the color of their skin. You’ll then make a suffragist sash and write a letter to your representatives.
1895 – 1929 “Votes for Women” — Movement Slogan
From 1895 to 1929, women’s activism focused on voting rights, improving working conditions, and fighting racism. Black Americans and working-class people wanted the vote as a way to gain social justice and protection. Women changed people’s views of themselves by engaging in new “unladylike” tactics (strategies) like marching in the streets and making themselves a public spectacle. They wanted to make sure people were paying attention! National organizations and local groups worked with city and state governments to put suffrage referendums (political questions) on state ballots. Then, they were able to introduce a Constitutional amendment in Congress to change national law.
Ultimately, suffrage victory came with the ratification (making official) of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting the right to vote to women. Although it marked a huge change in America, the suffrage victory wasn’t perfect. Jim Crow laws and violence prevented Black Americans from voting in many parts of the United States. Today, we still see voter suppression (keeping out or holding down) of Black Americans. Native Americans and Asian Americans would have to wait decades to become citizens and gain the right to vote. Women who married foreigners also lost their US citizenship and thus the right to vote. Women continued to fight for wider rights of citizenship for all women, including the ability to sit on a jury, better access to education, and equal rights in the workplace.
Meet some of the women from this period in American history – 1895-1929. Choose one to research further, and use our template to create your own biography entry for them.
- Nannie Helen Burroughs (1880 – 1961) was an educator and activist who founded the National Training School for Women and Girls. This was the first ever school to provide vocational education to Black women.
- Adella Hunt Logan (1863-1915) was born to a free woman of color and a white farmer in Sparta, Georgia during the Civil War. She became a teacher and an advocate of women’s rights. In 1912, Logan wrote an article, “Colored Women as Voters,” for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) journal, The Crisis.
- Mary Church Terrell (1863 – 1954) was an Black activist who served as a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and the NAACP. She was also one of the first ever Black American women to receive a college degree.
Download this template to track your research and create your own Women March biography!
Hands-On: Suffragist Sash
Download these instructions to make your own at home.
Write a Letter to Your Representative
Download these instructions and template to research and write your representative.
Women March: 20th century
In this section you will learn about how women went to work during World War II, how they fought for labor rights, and how they took to the streets in the 1960s to fight for civil, racial, and equal rights. You will write your own Women March biography and design a protest sign.
1930 – 1962 “We Can Do It” – War Poster
During the 1930s, the Great Depression impacted women and their families across the country. Yet, women continued to work together to make change, especially around labor and civil rights. Their activism during this period showed just how powerful they could be with the vote. When World War II started, women went to work at jobs outside of the home. They organized labor unions (a group of workers who join together to protect their own rights). Women took on new roles and responsibilities during wartime, showing their strength and importance as American citizens. During and after WWII, Black women and their allies (people on your side) organized civil rights campaigns to make the United States live up to and fulfill its promises. Women’s work was essential to making civil rights changes. However, women and women activists in particular still faced sexism and gender discrimination. Women went back to the streets in the 1960s, marching for women’s liberation (freedom).
1963 – 1982 “Sisterhood is Powerful” – Movement Slogan
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the women’s liberation movement became a national awakening. Although connected with earlier periods of the women’s movement, it reminded the country of the pressing need for racial and economic justice and general liberation of women.
Diverse women fought for social justice, were part of the Black Power movement, and opposed the Vietnam war. Many women activists were young, college-aged students. Although many of these causes were not women focused, women were involved, but often discriminated against because of their sex. Thus, they formed their own ac vist groups, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW). Through their efforts women activists used many tactics (strategies) to change women’s lives across many related issues locally, nationally, and globally. The term “feminism” (women’s rights based on equality of the sexes) would become a household word during this period.
Meet some of the women from this period in American history – 1930- 1982. Choose one to research further, and use our template to create your own biography entry for them.
- Mary McLeod Bethune (1875 – 1955) was an activist and educator who founded a civil rights organization, the National Council of Negro Women, and served as the president of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). She also was involved in politics and was a trusted advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt.
- Unita Blackwell (1933 – 2019) was a civil rights activist. She was the first Black American woman to be elected mayor in the state of Mississippi.
- Fannie Lou Hammer (1917 – 1977) was a civil rights activist who worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She also founded the Freedom Farm Cooperative which bought land for Black Americans.
- Dorothy Height (1912 – 2010) was a civil rights activist who served as the president of the National Council of Negro Women. She also helped organize the famous March on Washington and was considered a leading figure of the civil rights movement. She later received both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
- Dorothy Pitman Hughes (1938 – ) is an activist, author, and small business owner, who along with Gloria Stein, co-founded Ms. magazine.
- Alice Walker (1944 – ) is a poet, activist and short story writer who wrote many works about the mistreatment of Black Americans. Additionally, her novel The Color Purple won a Pulitzer Prize and was eventually adapted into a movie.
Download this template to track your research and create your own Women March biography!
Hands-On: Protest Signs
Download these instructions to design and make your own protest sign.
Women March: 20th and 21st century
In this section you will learn about how the women’s rights movement has changed and become more inclusive over the last 35 years. It has changed in terms of tactics (strategies), causes (what is being fought for), and who is included as the face of the movement. You will research women from this time period to write a Women March biography entry and create a suffragist hat.
1983 – 2020 “This is What a Feminist Looks Like” – Movement Slogan
In the 1980s, the women’s movement broke apart. Women were now in the workforce in greater numbers and there were many more freedoms that women experienced in their lives. A new generation of activists found new types of causes and ways of fighting for change. Advocates emphasized women’s particular needs in connection with and at the same me as needs related to their race, class, and sexual identities. In the 1990s, groups organized underground messaging campaigns—not marching—to show the continued discrimination experienced by women in all aspects of their life. Women of color and trans women have fought to make intersectionality—the recognition of connected forms of discrimination—central to modern feminist activism. This helped to make women’s activism more inclusive. Today, the internet and social media have changed how we come together. Thus, allowing for activism even when you cannot be physically in the same place. Yet people still want to join together in person – like we have seen in the last few months. Through the vote and through many other methods of activism, women continue to make their voices heard.
Meet some of the women from this period in American history – 1983-today. Choose one to research further, and use our template to create your own biography entry for them.
- Vernice Armour (1973 – ) is a United States Marine Corps officer who became the first-ever Black American female combat pilot in the U.S. Armed Forces and first-ever Black woman aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps.
- Tarana Burke (1973 – ) is an activist credited with coining the phrase “Me Too” back in 2006, when she created a myspace page to offer support for victims of abuse.
- Misty Copeland (1982 – ) is an American ballet dancer for the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). She is the first Black American woman to become a principal dancer for ABT.
- Patrisse Cullors (1984 – ), along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, Cullors founded the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013 as a response to the murder of Trayvon Martin. Cullors’ activism is also motivated by her queer identity. BLM focuses on inclusivity of people from all races, genders, and sexual orientation.
- Tamika D. Mallory (1980 – ) is an American activist and was one of the leading organizers of the 2017 Women’s March. She is also an advocate for social justice issues, such as equal rights for women, gun violence, and police misconduct.
Download this template to track your research and create your own Women March biography!
Hands-On: Suffragist Hat
Download these instructions to design and add to your own suffragist hat.
We’d love to see or read your work! Contact us at familyprograms@nyhistory.org or tag us with #nyhistory on social media.
Interested in exploring more about women in American history? Check out New-York Historical’s WAMS website, where you can find resources illuminating diverse women’s contributions to the American past.
Top image: Women activists with signs for registration, 1956. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Frances Albrier Collection. © Cox Studio
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