McKinney, Texas -- Celebrate the centennial of women’s suffrage with a local Smithsonian Exhibit entitled: Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence.

College Women Picketing in Front of the White House, 1917 - In the first such protest in history, women picket the White House every day from January 1917 until the 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920. On this day, college-educated women worked the picket line.

Ida B. Wells - An investigative reporter who crusaded against lynching, Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) was one of the most important journalists of the late 1800s. At the 1913 suffrage march in Washington, D.C., she refused to walk in the back where Black women were being segregated. Instead, she took her place at the front of the Illinois delegation. Albumen silver print by Sallie E. Garrity, c. 1893 Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionGelatin silver print Courtesy of National Woman’s Party, Washington, D.C.

The Exhibit corresponds with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and all are welcome.   Reservations must be made via phone (972-569-6909) or via the Museum’s website (www.heardcraig.org)

Exhibition description

The story of women’s suffrage is a story of voting rights and our civic development as a nation. It is one of the longest reform movements in American history. 

Between 1832 and 1920, women citizens organized for the right to vote, agitating first in their states or territories and then, simultaneously, through petitioning for a federal amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Based on the National Portrait Gallery exhibition of the same name, Votes for Women seeks to expand visitors’ understanding of the suffrage movement in the United States.

Suffrage Pageant, 1913 -

The poster exhibition addresses women's political activism, explores the racism that challenged universal suffrage, and documents the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment which prohibits the government from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. It also touches upon the suffrage movement's relevance to current conversations on voting and voting rights across America.

The Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, Because of Her Story is one of the country’s most ambitious undertakings to research, collect, document display and share the compelling story of women. It will deepen our understanding of women’s contributions to the nation and the world. More information about the initiative is available at womenshistory.si.edu.

Zitkála-Šá - Women of color organized beyond merely voting rights. A Lakota Sioux, Zitkála-Šá (1876–1938) fought tirelessly for Native American rights. She helped found both the Society of the American Indians in 1907 and the National Council of American Indians in 1926. Photogravure by Joseph T. Kelley, 1898 (printed 1901) Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionOn March 3, 1913, 5,000 women suffragists processed down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Played by actor Hedwig Reicher, Columbia gave them her approval and endorsement of their cause, symbolically granting the women the right to vote. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress

The McKinney Exhibit opened at the Heard-Craig Center for the Arts on Tuesday, September 1 and runs through mid-November.  Reservations are required and tickets can be secured by booking through the museum’s website at: www.heardcraig.org  

The Museum recommends that Group Tours be no more than 6-8 people during the COVID-19 precautionary time.  

Press inquiries can be made by calling 972-569-6909 or by emailing:  executivedirector@heardcraig.org.

Equality Is the Sacred Law of Humanity, c. 1903–1915 - The use of symbols drawn from ancient Greece and Rome appealed to conservative values and asserted the respectability of the suffragist movement. A woman in profile wears a winged petasos helmet to illustrate her role as a divine messenger of equality, while the bundle of sticks around an axe symbolizes strength through unity. Egbert Jacobson, a graphic designer and a leader in color theory and typography, was married to a prominent suffragist, Franc Delzell Jacobsen—and he, like many men, supported her cause. Equality Is the Sacred Law of Humanity, c. 1903–1915, Lithograph by Egbert C. Jacobson Courtesy of Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University