In July 1917, suffragists incarcerated at Northern Virginia’s Occoquan Workhouse initiated what became the final push toward women’s voting rights. The Workhouse Prison Museum’s five public lectures, “American Women: The Long and Winding Road” traces the women’s equality movement from before the Civil War to the present.
January 8 – Genesis: Women Begin the Search for Equal Rights (1848-1920), Robyn Muncy, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland will speak, and Lynn Garvey-Hodge will portray suffragist Mrs. Robert Walker. Beginning in the middle of the 19th century, women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony advocated for the right for women to vote.
February 5 – Years of Languish (1920s-1950s), Cynthia Harrison, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, George Washington University, will speak and Gail Zander, Ph.D., psychologist will be a guest panelist. The intense hardships experienced by women during the Great Depression were followed by unprecedented involvement in what had been exclusively men’s work during World War II.
March 5 – Years of Hope, Turmoil and Anger (1960s and 70s), Speaker TBA and Sharon Bulova, Chairman, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Sherry Hutt, J.D. Ph.D., National Program Manager, North American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act, U.S. Department of Interior and Carol Shapiro, M.D. plastic surgeon will be guest panelists.Women reached out for greater fairness and equality in the work place and at home. They pushed to take control of their reproductive rights and to eliminate legal inequalities.
April 2 – Breaking the Glass Ceiling (1980’s-present), [moderator and panelists] These years saw invisible barriers holding women back from senior management positions begin to crumble and access to more traditionally male roles increased.
April 30 – Equality: What Does It Really Mean? Join a discussion with three panelists about the differing ways men and women now think and feel about their work and home life. Should there still be gender-specific roles in contemporary society?
All Lectures are free with a suggested donation of $10 and will take place in the W-3 Theatre at the Workhouse Arts Center. Attendees must register online at www.WorkhouseArts.org.
