INDIANAPOLIS — “Votes for Women: The Road to Suffrage,” opening March 12 at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site will highlight the hard-fought suffrage movement, as well as some of the unexpected ways Benjamin and Caroline Harrison were involved in these efforts in the decades leading up to full national suffrage for women in 1920.
Guests will learn about the suffrage movement and the strides that it took to receive the vote. The exhibit will feature information on the Harrison family, prominent suffrage leaders, First Ladies and a collection of women’s suffrage artifacts acquired in 2001 through a generous gift from the Lacy Family and the Lacy Foundation, honoring the memory of Edna Balz Lacy.
Suffrage-related material from the Cecelia E. Harris Collection includes more than 400 artifacts from this critical, historical and social movement. Artifacts include period postcards, photographs, ribbons, sashes, stamps and even an ivory-colored flask that depicts President Teddy Roosevelt wearing a sash that reads “SUFFER-E GET.”
Although many western states and territories began to give women the right to vote earlier, women would not secure the national vote until 1920. In January 1919, the bill passed the Senate, and on August 26, 1920, after two-thirds of the states had ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, women finally won the right to vote.
The Votes for Women: The Road to Suffrage exhibit will hold its grand opening on Thursday, March 12 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. on the third floor of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site at 1230 N. Delaware St. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $6 per person and available at EventBrite votesforwomenexhibit.eventbrite.com/. Members receive free admission. The exhibit will run through Dec. 31.