Welcome Remarks for "Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote"
McGowan Theater,听威尼斯人娱乐场 Building, Washington, DC
May 10, 2019听
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Good afternoon, and welcome to the William G. McGowan Theater at the 威尼斯人娱乐场. I鈥檓 David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, and I鈥檓 pleased you could join us for today鈥檚 program, whether you are here in the theater or joining us through Facebook or YouTube.
Before we hear from Susan Ware about her new book, Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote, I鈥檇 like to let you know about two other programs coming up soon.
Today at 4 p.m., Kate Campbell Stevenson will combine music and theater in a one-woman performance called 鈥淎mending America: How Women Won the Vote,鈥� which tells the story of the early 20th-century fight for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
And on Thursday, May 16, at noon, David Maraniss will discuss his new book, A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father, which tells the story of his family鈥檚 ordeal, from blacklisting to vindication.
Check our website, Archives.gov, or sign up at the table outside the theater to get email updates. You鈥檒l also find information about other 威尼斯人娱乐场 programs and activities.
Another way to get more involved with the 威尼斯人娱乐场 is to become a member of the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Foundation. The Foundation supports the work of the agency, especially its education and outreach programs. Visit its website鈥�补谤肠丑颈惫别蝉蹿辞耻苍诲补迟颈辞苍.辞谤驳鈥�to learn more about the Foundation and join online.
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Today our new exhibit, Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote, opened upstairs in the Lawrence F. O鈥橞rien Gallery. This exhibit is the cornerstone of our centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
The 19th Amendment is rightly celebrated as a major milestone made possible by decades of suffragists鈥� relentless political engagement, yet it is just one critical piece of the larger story of women鈥檚 battle for the vote.
Rightfully Hers begins with the struggle for suffrage but doesn鈥檛 end with the 19th Amendment鈥檚 ratification. The final sections examine both the immediate impact of the suffrage amendment and the voting rights struggles that persisted into the modern day.
One of the goals of the exhibit is to recognize both the broad diversity of suffrage activists and the many bases on which American women have been barred from voting.
As Susan Ware does in Why They Marched, the exhibit looks beyond the familiar names鈥攕uch as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul鈥攁nd brings to our attention activists from a variety of backgrounds, showing that the cause of suffrage was advanced by American women across race, ethnicity, and class.
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Susan Ware, a pioneer in the field of women鈥檚 history and a leading feminist biographer, is the author and editor of numerous books on 20th-century U.S. history including American Women鈥檚 History: A Very Short Introduction; Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism; and Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped the American Century. Educated at Wellesley College and Harvard University, she has taught at New York University and Harvard, where she served as editor of the biographical dictionary Notable American Women: Completing the Twentieth Century. Since 2012, she has served as the general editor of the American National Biography. Ware has long been associated with the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, where she serves as the Honorary Women鈥檚 Suffrage Centennial Historian. She is also a member of the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Foundation鈥檚 Honorary Committee for Rightfully Hers.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Susan Ware.
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