Learn about African American Women’s Fight for the Vote on Sept. 12
Press Release · Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Washington, DC

On Thursday, September 12, at 7:15 pm, the National Archives presents a special program: African American Women in the Suffrage Movement and the Battle for the Vote.*  This event is held in conjunction with the current exhibit Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote.  

The program is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, and live streamed on the National Archives’ YouTube channel. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW. Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station. Reservations are recommended and can be made online. For those without reservations, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The theater doors will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the program. Late seating will not be permitted 20 minutes after the program begins.

What role did African American women play in the suffrage movement, and what barriers did they face?  A panel will discuss their stories, challenges, and achievements in the battle for the vote. Moderated by Scott Abbott, Social Studies Director, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), panelists include: A’Lelia Bundles, author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker; Shirley Moody-Turner, Professor of African American Studies, Pennsylvania State University; and, Elsa Barkley Brown, Professor of History and Women’s Studies, University of Maryland. Presented in partnership with the 2020 Women's Vote Centennial Initiative, the National Council of Negro Women, the League of Women Voters of the National Capital Area, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

*Programs presented in conjunction with our exhibition: Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote are made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Unilever, Pivotal Ventures, Carl M. Freeman Foundation in honor of Virginia Allen Freeman, AARP, AT&T, Ford Motor Company Fund, Facebook, Barbara Lee Family Foundation Fund at the Boston Foundation, Google, HISTORY ®, and Jacqueline B. Mars. Additional support for National Outreach and Programs provided by Denise Gwyn Ferguson, BMO Financial Group, Hearst Foundations, Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, FedEx, Bernstein Family Foundation, and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation/Ambassador Fay-Hartog Levin (Ret.).