NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of the City of New York opened Beyond Suffrage: A Century of New York Women in Politics, a groundbreaking exhibition that traces women’s political activism in New York from the struggle to win the vote, through the 20th century, and into the fight for women’s rights in our own time. Beginning with the long battle for women’s voting rights that successfully culminated in 1917 statewide and 1920 nationally (though many women nationwide, particularly women of color, still faced challenges to casting their ballots), the exhibition highlights the remarkable women at the center of New York’s politics over the course of a century. It features a diverse range of activists, both familiar and lesser known, the battles they fought, and the many critical issues they championed.
“New York has always been at the epicenter of the fight for women’s rights, from the fight for woman suffrage in the early 20th century right through today’s activism,” said Whitney Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director of the Museum of the City of New York. “This exhibition celebrates New York’s role in the last 100 years of the women’s movement by bringing that story to life and connecting it to the present. We hope Beyond Suffrage will be as inspiring as it is informative.”
Beyond Suffrage: A Century of New York Women in Politics examines how women navigated New York politics in the 1920s through 1940s, often working behind the scenes to advance progressive causes related to health, labor, and good government; the central role of New York in the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s that redefined women’s roles in politics and government; and the ongoing campaigns for women’s political power and grassroots mobilizations that demand equal gender rights today.
Beyond Suffrage features rare artifacts, documents, costumes, photographs, magazine covers, and audio-visual materials spanning more than a century that show how women have been politicized—and in turn changed politics—in New York and beyond.
The Honorary Committee of Beyond Suffrage is comprised of Gloria Steinem (Chair); Liz J. Abzug; Carol Bellamy; Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer; Ellen Chesler; Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke; Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton; Jacqueline Ebanks; U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; Betsy Gotbaum; NYS Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul; Elizabeth Holtzman; Public Advocate Tish James; Queens Borough President Melinda Katz; Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney; Sarah Maslin Nir; Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker, New York City Council; First Lady Chirlane McCray; Congresswoman Grace Meng; Ruth Messinger; Kate Millett; Robin Morgan; Rosemonde Pierre-Louis; Dorothy Pitman Hughes; Congresswoman Kathleen Rice; Reshma Saujani; Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter; Congresswoman Elise Stefanik; Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Democratic Conference Leader; Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez; Faye Wattleton; and Bonnie Wong.
