Votes for Women Partner Programs for September and October
The centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution will continue this fall with webinars, lectures, and performances that highlight the long-fought campaign to achieve Women’s Suffrage.
The Ridgefield Library and the Ridgefield Historical Society are sponsoring Votes for Women: The Long and Winding Road, a four-week mini-course Zoom webinar taught by Dr. Darla Shaw. On Wednesdays, Sept. 9-30, from 6 to 7 p.m., she'll cover the women of Seneca Falls, N.Y., and the first Women's Rights Convention; the work of Alice Paul, a leader in the movement, who lived in Ridgefield for many years; Ridgefield residents who knew Alice Paul and other Ridgefield suffragists including Laura Curie Allee Shields and Mary Louisa Olcott, as well as Elsie Hill of Norwalk and later Redding.
For more information, and to register, click here.
The League of Women Voters of Ridgefield and the Ridgefield Library will present Carrie Chapman Catt: Suffragist, Founder of the League of Women Voters, and National Women's Hall of Fame Honoree, with American Theater Guild's Historical Interpreter Pat Jordan, on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 2:30 p.m. via Zoom.
Born in 1859, Carrie Chapman Catt was a popular school superintendent, charismatic lecturer, astute organizer, and two-time president of the National American Women Suffrage Association. She was a major force in the 19th Amendment becoming a reality in 1920. Catt was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, worked for world peace, and was awarded the American Hebrew Medal for her efforts in World War I. To register, click here.
African American Suffragettes and Black Women Voters: Making Herstory with Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall, a Live Zoom webinar, will be offered on Thursday, Sept 17, at 7 p.m. Professor Browne-Marshall will reveal the stories of Black women who battled against laws and a society prejudiced against their race and gender, overcoming these seemingly impossible odds they rose from Black Suffragettes to present-day positions of political power.
The Ridgefield Library will host an ARTalk: Honoring Women's Rights Pioneers with a Monument in Central Park, a slide-illustrated discussion, in a Zoom webinar on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m. Pam Elam, president, and Coline Jenkins, vice president, of Monumental Women, a not-for-profit, which came together seven years ago with the idea of breaking the "bronze ceiling" in Central Park, will be joined by their winning artist, Ridgefield sculptor Meredith Bergmann. They will discuss the process used to make Bergmann's monument to Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton stronger, and meet their goal of unveiling the monument on Aug. 26, 2020. This program is also co-sponsored by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists. To register, click here.
Natalia Zukerman will present The Women Who Rode Away: A Multi-Media Concert on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. as part of the Ridgefield Library's Ridgefield Folk and Votes for Women series. The concert will take place via Zoom. For more information and to register, click here.
The Votes for Women celebration has been organized by representatives of the Ridgefield Library, the Ridgefield Historical Society, the League of Women Voters of Ridgefield, the Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center, and the Drum Hill Chapter, DAR.
This series is supported in part by the CT Humanities and Fairfield County Bank.