Women's History Month in Massachusetts

Jo Hay’s portraits of women leaders.

Women’s History Month is an annual opportunity to revisit, remember, and reflect on the many diverse roles, stories, and travails of women throughout the past and--many would argue--up to and including the present moment. (But that’s a whole other story.)

A good large lens to start with is the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM). An expansive series of online exhibits covers topics that ring bells that have clear resonance with the current Presidential campaign: “Standing Up for Change,” “First But Not the Last,” “Pathways to Equality,” and “Creating a Female Political Culture.” 

Focusing closer to home, you could do worse than starting with the NWHM’s profile of Elizabeth Freeman, the first African American woman to successfully file a lawsuit for freedom in Massachusetts. 

The Mass Gov Blog, on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts official website, provides suggestions of several ways to commemorate Women’s History Month throughout the state, including the fourth annual Berkshire Festival of Women Writers in western Mass., and the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail. 

 An online exhibit called “Can She Do It?” at The Massachusetts Historical Society debates a woman’s right to vote and highlights three women suffragists in our state. 

Old Sturbridge Village will hold a weekend-long Women's History Weekend March 28-29 from 9:30-4:00, celebrating “extraordinary and everyday women” of the 19th century, with OSV’s signature at-the-time custuming. Don’t expect the staff to give any indication that they  know what you’re talking about when you mention coronavirus or the presidential campaign.

And if you’re in Provincetown, don’t miss the exhibition of Jo Hay’s portraits of women leaders. Her paintings in the series Persisters, some of which are on display at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in March, include Massachusetts leaders Elizabeth Warren, and Ayanna Pressley, plus Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Greta Thunberg, Emma Gonzalez, Rachel Maddow, Christine Blasey-Ford, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

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