Throughout Women’s History Month, the Center recognizes extraordinary American women throughout history, including those featured in our exhibit, The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote. This exhibit traces the triumphs and struggles that led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and features some of the many women who transformed constitutional history—including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Ida B. Wells—and allows visitors to better understand the long fight for women’s suffrage. We’ll also look at the accomplishments of American women who fought for freedom, equality, and equal rights for all Americans.
Civic Holidays
Women’s History Month
- Date
- Friday, March 1 - Sunday, March 31
- Time
- All Day
Programs at the Museum
The Four Harriets of History
Check Daily Program Guide, Grand Hall Lobby
Explore the lives of four American women—Harriet Robinson Scott, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Jacobs, and Harriet Beecher Stowe—who confronted slavery through literature, lawsuits, and direct action in their efforts to free themselves and others from bondage.
Artifact Spotlight: AKA Sorority Suffrage Letter
Check Daily Program Guide, The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote
Learn about the first Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., founded in 1908, and their fight for equal rights in our exhibit, The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote. We’ll examine a letter from the sorority’s founder and incorporator, Nellie M. Quander, and explore how Black women fought for equal suffrage and equal rights within the nation’s suffrage movement.
Artifact Spotlight: Suffrage Art
Check Daily Program Guide, The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote
Join us to learn how artists Rose O’Neill and Evelyn Rumsey Cary supported the fight for women’s right to vote and changed the face of the suffrage movement through their art. Image: Suffrage poster designed by the artist Evelyn Ramsay Cary, 1917. Credit: The Howland Stone Store Museum, Sherwood, Aurora, NY
Remember the Ladies Trivia
Check Daily Program Guide, Grand Hall Lobby
In the spirit of Abigail Adams, visitors are invited to “remember the ladies” during our women’s history trivia game! Test your knowledge of women and the Constitution during our interactive trivia game.
Self-Guided Women’s History Artifact Tour
Pick up a special Women’s History Month brochure for a self-guided tour of the Center’s exhibitions focusing on rare artifacts and the 19th Amendment. Image: Pennsylvania's ratification copy of the 19th Amendment, 1919. Credit: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives
Suffragist Story Corner
Offered Weekends
Grab a seat in the story corner and join us as we explore the lives of famous women suffragists like Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, Mabel Ping Hua Lee, and more as we read books honoring the bravery and brilliance of famous women from history.
Votes for Women Crafts
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Make your own Votes for Women pins and support the suffrage movement! Put your own twist on historical suffrage buttons, sashes, and posters at our make-and-take craft tables.
Online Programs
Civic Stories: Women Leading the Way
Friday, March 1 | Noon ET
Grab your suffrage sashes! This interactive presentation explores generations of American women who led the fight for suffrage. Spanning from the Colonial Era to the present day, students will explore the connection between the abolition and the women’s rights movements, experience the trial of Susan B. Anthony, and cast a ballot for their favorite woman from history.
Live from the Museum: The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote!
Tuesday, March 5 | Noon ET
A National Constitution Center museum educator leads virtual audiences on a live guided tour of the exhibit, tracing the triumphs and struggles that led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment. The tour helps students to better understand the long fight for women’s suffrage, and also highlights some of the many women who transformed constitutional history—including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Ida B. Wells. Plus, students get an up-close look at some of the one-of-a-kind artifacts on display, including a rare printing of the Declaration of Sentiments from the nation’s first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, a ballot box used to collect women’s votes in the late 1800s, Pennsylvania’s ratification copy of the 19th Amendment, as well as visually compelling “Votes for Women” ephemera.
Live from the Museum: Alice Paul House
Friday, March 8 | 11 a.m. ET
In celebration of International Women’s Day, we welcome students to join us for a special edition of Live from the Museum. Join us live from Paulsdale—the childhood home of Alice Paul—where we’ll take a look at the values that Alice Paul learned during her childhood and the way those values led her to advocate for equality as a major figure in the women’s suffrage movement. This program is presented in partnership with the Alice Paul Institute.
Civic Stories: Remember the Ladies Trivia
Friday, March 15 | Noon ET
In the spirit of Abigail Adams, students are invited to “remember the ladies” during our virtual women’s history trivia game! Test your knowledge of women and the Constitution during our interactive trivia game.
Live from the Museum: Women of the Civil War and Reconstruction
Tuesday, March 19 | Noon ET
Explore the Center’s compelling exhibit, Civil War and Reconstruction: The Battle for Freedom and Equality, as one of our museum educators explains how constitutional clashes over slavery set the stage for the Civil War, and how the nation transformed the Constitution after the war during the Reconstruction period. Along the way, you’ll hear the stories of people central to the conflict over slavery and give you an up-close look at special artifacts on display.
Civic Stories: Four Harriets of History
Friday, March 29 | Noon ET
Explore the lives of four American women—Harriet Robinson Scott, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Jacobs, and Harriet Beecher Stowe—who confronted slavery through literature, lawsuits, and direct action in their efforts to free themselves and others from bondage.
Online Resources
Interactive Constitution: Classroom Edition Learning Materials
Each collection of Learning Materials on our Interactive Constitution: Classroom Edition contains video lessons and recordings of previous Scholar Exchanges, plus links to podcasts, blog posts, Interactive Constitution essays, and more. Great topics for Women’s History Month include:
The 19th Amendment: Women Fight for Rights (1848-1877): A Google Arts and Culture Exhibit
This online exhibit mirrors the first section of the National Constitution Center’s exhibit, The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote. In this first installment of a three-part series, discover how the early women’s movement formed and later divided over race and tactics after the Civil War. Trace the movement through the Reconstruction era, as women experimented with new strategies to secure the ballot.
Exhibit Sneak Peek Videos
Watch as the National Constitution Center staff take you behind the scenes for a special look inside our newest exhibit exploring the women’s suffrage movement, The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote:
Watch all video highlights:
- Introduction
- Section One: Fighting For Rights
- Seneca Falls Convention
- Section Two: Changing Tactics
- Suffrage and Anti-Suffrage Ephemera Wall
- 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession
- Ratification of the 19th Amendment and the Continuing Fight
You can also explore some of the interactive displays featured in the exhibit, now available on our website:
Theatrical Performances:
The Women of Reconstruction
In this three-part clip from FOURTEEN: A Theatrical Performance, a performer embodies notable women from the reconstruction period, including Susie King Taylor, Harriet Jacobs, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, by reading excerpts from their letters and speeches.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: The Great Problem to be Solved
Actress Natajia Sconiers portrays abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, reciting Harper’s speech, “The Great Problem to be Solved,” performed in the National Constitution Center’s Civil War and Reconstruction exhibit.
More Videos:
2020 Liberty Medal Honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The National Constitution Center awarded the 32nd annual Liberty Medal to the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, for her efforts to advance liberty and equality for all. To celebrate Justice Ginsburg, the Center aired a video tribute featuring performances by internationally renowned opera singers and tributes from special friends of Justice Ginsburg. The video, which premiered on Constitution Day, September 17, 2020, was produced by NBCUniversal.
RBG in Song: An Evening with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg featuring a Special Performance
Patrice Michaels, composer/soprano/creator and daughter-in law of Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, music director Kuang-Hao Huang, pianist Andrew Harley, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, and a cappella ensemble Capital Hearings give a special performance of “THE LONG VIEW: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs.” The 40-minute song cycle illuminates key aspects of Justice Ginsburg’s personal and professional life through letters, remembrances, conversations, and court opinions to reveal a life dedicated to justice and convey the important relationship between the Supreme Court and the Constitution. Following the performance, Justice Ginsburg joins National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss his new book, Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty and Law—an informal portrait of the justice through an extraordinary series of conversations, starting in the 1990s and continuing to today. They also reflect on the performance that preceded the discussion.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life
Historian, author, and National Constitution Center member Lori Ginzberg joins the Center’s Senior Director of Content Lana Ulrich and Exhibit Developer Elena Popchock to discuss her book, Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life―a critical and admiring look at Stanton’s mixed legacy that continues to haunt American feminism.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton: The Book of Gutsy Women
Former Senator and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, join the National Constitution Center to unveil their new book, The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience. The Clintons share the stories of the women who have inspired them throughout history and around the globe. Joy Reid, MSNBC political analyst moderates and Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, provides welcome remarks.
