“She Changed the World: NC Women Breaking Barriers” Initiative

by Wanda Lassiter,

In 2020 the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) will commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. The Department states, “as part of a national campaign to commemorate this historic event, DNCR is coordinating a campaign titled ‘She Changed the World: NC Women Breaking Barriers.’ American women were granted the right to vote with the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified on August 18, 1920, after a 72-year fight by suffragists. The 19th Amendment did not resolve the issue of suffrage for many women of color, who continued to battle for voting rights for decades.”

“SHE CHANGED THE WORLD”, NORTH CAROLINA’S DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES INITIATIVE LOGO

The Museum of the Albemarle will open an exhibition in July 2020 celebrating women across northeastern North Carolina who have broken barriers. We share the same goal as our department with this exhibition: “to share and celebrate the achievements of ALL North Carolina women and illuminate North Carolinian women’s pivotal role in breaking down barriers in North Carolina and the nation. The 19th Amendment was an incomplete victory. The amendment did not guarantee suffrage for all women, and the struggle for full enfranchisement continues today. Until recently, many of the suffragists who struggled to secure a place for women in American democracy—both before and after the 19th Amendment—were left out of our history books. We’ll tell their stories.”