Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence Display

Library Bridge

The fight for women’s right to vote lasted more than 80 years. Women organized in their states or territories as well as petitioned for a constitutional amendment. This poster exhibition aims to give a more complete account of the struggle for women’s right to vote by considering the complex, cumulative way in which multiple forms of discrimination intersected in women’s lives. This exhibition was organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. It hangs in the glass bridge between the north and south wing of the library.

“Young ladies in America love independence as much as their ancestors did, and are admired and respected for supporting themselves.”   

–Mr. Brooke, Chapter 12, “Camp Laurence”