WHEN: March 22 – March 31, 2021
WHERE: Memorial Union on the Washburn University Campus
DETAILS: A traveling exhibit that brings to life the history of the women’s suffrage movement in
Kansas is visiting towns across the state in a belated celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Brought to Kansans by the League of Women Voters of Kansas and its Centennial Celebration Committee, “Learning from the Past, Imagining the Future,” is the theme of the seven-paneled “mobile museum.”
Visitors will become acquainted with some of the historic women who led the women’s right to vote movement in the early 20th century. Beginning with Clarina Nichols in the late 1800s, women in Kansas fought for decades to ensure their inclusion in civic life. Kansas was on the leading edge as women could vote in all elections in Kansas in 1912, eight years before the 19th Amendment extended that right to the rest of the country.
The exhibit also traces the history following 1920, including the influence of African-American and Native American women, who had an integral part in the process even as the right to vote did not include them until much later. Illustrating the difference women’s involvement in the political process has made in the lives of all Kansans through the present day, the exhibit’s final panel issues a call to action to vote in every election.
Founded as a direct result of the women’s suffrage movement, the League of Women Voters also celebrated a birthday in 2020.
Funded in part by a grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, the Kansas Health Foundation and Humanities Kansas also provided generous donations to “Learning from the Past, Imagining the Future.” Kansas-owned businesses, universities, and individuals across the state also helped make this exhibit possible.
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