Historic marker for the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.

175 Years Ago, the Seneca Falls Convention Kicked Off the Fight for Women's Suffrage

An iconic moment deeply shaped by Quaker beliefs on gender and equality.
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No Better Soil

In the first half of the 19th century, upstate New York was a hotbed of movements for reform. How visible is that history today?
Newspaper headline stating "Mrs. Sarah Corleto to become nurse"

How an Embalming License Freed Sarah Corleto from an Abusive Husband

She used her work to live an autonomous life in a time when women were often trapped by socially constructed gender roles and systematic oppression.
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The 19th Amendment Was a Crucial Achievement. But it Wasn’t Enough to Liberate Women.

It’s time to fight for the original and heretofore unachieved goals of the women’s movement.

How Women Got the Vote Is a Far More Complex Story Than the History Textbooks Reveal

An immersive story about the bold women who helped secure the right to vote is on view at the National Portrait Gallery.
The First Women’s Rights Convention, Seneca Falls, 1848.

What American Divorces Tell Us About American Marriages

On the inseparable histories of matrimony and disunion in the United States.
Women's rights activists Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth, Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis, Lucretia Mott, Harriot Kezia Hunt, and Harriet Martineau.

Why the 1850 Worcester Women's Rights Convention Is a Vital Part of History

Women’s rights activism has shaped America for the better throughout our history, so why should colleges be banned from teaching it?
Abraham Lincoln speaking to a crowd.

Stop Making Sense

Are the truths in the Declaration of Independence really self-evident?
Artistic collage of black leaders surrounded by images associated with prohibition.

The Forgotten History of Black Prohibitionism

We often think of the temperance movement as driven by white evangelicals set out to discipline Black Americans and immigrants. That history is wrong.
A hand holding a stethoscope and knife.

The Blackwell Sisters and the Harrowing History of Modern Medicine

A new biography of the pioneering doctors shows why “first” can be a tricky designation.
Profile portrait of Zitkala-Sa, a Native American woman, with long hair and beaded necklaces

Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Ša): Advocate for the "Indian Vote"

The story of Indigenous women’s participation in the struggle for women’s suffrage is highly complex, and Zitkala-Ša’s story provides an illuminating example.
Cartoon that shows a man struggling to shake a woman's hand because of her wide skirt.

Lampooning Political Women

For as long as women have battled for equitable political representation in America, those battles have been defined by images.

The Douglass Republic

How today's protests are struggling to reclaim the vision of the great abolitionist leader.

The Unfinished Business of Women’s Suffrage

A century after the passage of the 19th Amendment, women with felony convictions remain disenfranchised.
Side-by-side photos of Frederick Douglass, and his descendant Kenneth Morris dressed and posed to match the Douglass photo.

These Portraits Revisit the Legacies of Famous Americans

Photographer Drew Gardner painstakingly recreates the images with the notable figures' descendants.

The Internationalist History of the US Suffrage Movement

What we miss when we tell the story of women's rights activism as a strictly national tale.
Illustration of money burning

Obituary for a Billion-Dollar Boondoggle

Nearly two decades ago, historians embraced a hugely wasteful federal education program. It’s past time to reckon with that.
Women's liberation movement demonstrating in Washington D.C.

The Waves of Feminism, and Why People Keep Fighting Over Them, Explained

If you have no idea which wave of feminism we’re in right now, read this.