Heidi Bunyard (right) giving her step-mom, Cindy McCracken, a cotton kitchen towel that replicates a sign from 1919 that was designed to be placed in the window of homes so that all who passed would know that the woman within had exercised her right under the nineteenth amendment and registered to vote.
The opening of a new exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) came at the same time as the implementation of precautionary measures to limit the transmission of COVID-19 in public spaces. The day before the exhibit was scheduled to be opened, OHS announced that the museum will be closed from March 14 through March 29.
“Nevertheless, They Persisted” celebrates the 100th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote. Oregon women won the right to vote eight years earlier after five previous attempts had failed.
The tentative opening for the exhibit is March 30. However, information about the exhibit and the women’s suffrage movement is available on the Oregon Historical Society website.
resources:
Woman Suffrage in Oregon is a very informative essay written by Kimberly Jensen. It describes where Oregon fits in the national movement along with comprehensive coverage of the events and the leaders of the movement in Oregon.
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I recommend watching The Suffragists —a 30-minute video that is an OPB Oregon Experience episode.
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Women’s Suffrage at history.com also offers easy-to-follow information (in text and video) about the beginnings of the women’s rights movement, the Seneca Falls Convention, and the various factors over the 72 years that followed that moved the country to give women the right to vote.
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Eliza E. Canty-Jones shares A Brief History of Voting Rights in America and sheds light on the strong connections between citizenship, racism, and women’s suffrage.
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The 19th Amendment: A Crash Course: The Women’s Right National Historic Park is located in Seneca Falls, New York, where the first convention for women’s rights was held in 1848.
