Call for Comments! A Monument to Women's Suffrage Must Tell the Truth About Women
The Women's Suffrage National Monument will become far more than a work of art. It will be a permanent public record of one of the greatest civil rights movements in American history. That is why the choices made today about its design, language, and historical framing matter so deeply.
Our colleague and friend, Kara Dansky, recently highlighted this important issue in her article, "Tell the Women's Suffrage National Monument Foundation to Honor Women's History Truthfully." Her piece explains why the Foundation's current public survey presents an important opportunity for citizens to advocate for an accurate, sex-based representation of the women's suffrage movement. She provided great examples on how to engage in this discourse and offer feedback on their survey.
You can read Kara's article here:
Tell the Women's Suffrage National Monument Foundation to Honor Women's History Truthfully
The Women's Suffrage National Monument Foundation is currently inviting the public to participate in its "Monumental Ideas" campaign, asking Americans to share the values, stories, and themes that should shape this historic memorial. Public input received now will influence how generations of Americans understand the women's suffrage movement. We can already see in real time the shift in telling and retelling this history. Preserving the hard work of women is foundational for an honest and thriving society.
The women who organized, petitioned, marched, endured imprisonment, fought and even lost their lives for the right to vote did so because they were female. They were excluded from the ballot not because of an internal identity, but because of their sex. All their hard work would have been obsolete had they not been women. The injustice they confronted—and ultimately overcame—was explicitly rooted in sex-based discrimination–nothing else.
That historical reality deserves to be preserved.
Monuments are not simply symbolic; they are educational. They are the identity of a nation. They communicate who struggled, why they struggled, and what principles were at stake. A monument honoring women's suffrage should faithfully commemorate the women whose legal exclusion from voting gave rise to the movement that eventually opened doors and aspires to break the glass ceiling.
Civil rights movements are defined by the characteristics for which people experienced–and in many cases still experience–discrimination. The women's suffrage movement was a movement for the political rights of women as a sex class, and the monument should reflect that truth without considering today’s societal attempts to adjust to the narrative.
We encourage everyone who values historical integrity to make their voice heard by participating in the Foundation's survey. Respectfully sharing your perspective is one of the few opportunities the public has to influence this once-in-a-generation monument before its design is finalized.
Submit your comments through the Foundation's Monumental Ideas survey here:
Women's Suffrage National Monument Foundation – Monumental Ideas Submission
History belongs to all of us. Preserving it accurately is a responsibility we all share.
