CURRENT EXHIBITION

Exhibition Gallery & Lobby | January 13–December 5, 2020

We Demand: Women's Suffrage in Virginia

In 1920, Virginia's General Assembly refused to ratify the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution to grant women the right to vote. The suffragists lost. Or did they? We Demand: Women's Suffrage in Virginia reveals for the first time how women created two statewide organizations to win the right to vote. Virginia suffragists were a remarkable group of talented and dedicated women who have almost all been forgotten. They marched in parades, rallied at the state capitol, spoke to crowds on street corners, staffed booths at state and county fairs, lobbied legislators and congressmen, picketed the White House, and even went to jail. At the centenary of woman suffrage, these remarkable women are at last recognized for their important achievements and contributions.

Items on display include suffrage postcards and memorabilia such as pinback buttons and badges, as well as suffrage banners from the Congressional Union Party's Virginia branch. This exhibition is a project of the Task Force to Commemorate the Centennial Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote.