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Women’s Suffrage, Social Media-Style

Noelle Abrahams | December 2, 2019

Topics: #BallotBattle, 19th amendment, Christina K. Vida, Equal Rights Amendment, Facebook, General Assembly, Henry Lee Valentine, John Mitchell Jr., Lila Meade Valentine, Maggie L. Walker, Mary Mason Anderson Williams, social media, The Valentine, twitter

In their latest exhibit, The Valentine puts a new spin on the fight to gain women the right to vote by imagining it as a social media battle between famous figures of the early 20th century.

If you’ve ever wondered what Maggie L. Walker’s social media presence would look like if virtual communication had existed during the suffrage movement of the early 20th century, you’re going to love the Valentine’s new exhibition. #BallotBattle: The Social Struggle for Suffrage, opening Thursday, November 21, showcases suffrage-era public discourse in ways that are familiar and relatable to modern Americans.

To commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment’s ratification in 2020, #BallotBattle features plausible interactions via Facebook feeds and Twitter threads between five high-profile Richmonders from the suffrage era, who represent a diverse cross section of the Virginia Capital’s political discourse from 1909 to 1920.

“In 2019, there’s so much political and social debate, and it all happens on our phones,” said Christina K. Vida, the Valentine’s Curator of General Collections. “So we wanted to use our current social media to represent how social this discussion was 100 years ago.”

“With the founding of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in 1909 and the formation of the Virginia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage in 1912, there was an explosion of public debate in Richmond,” said Vida. “It was happening in newspapers, in the Jefferson Hotel’s auditorium, at the Woman’s Club of Richmond, and on street corners all around the capital.”

Of the five notable Richmonders selected are women suffragists Maggie L. Walker and Lila Meade Valentine, and black suffragist John Mitchell Jr. From the opposing side of the debate are anti-suffragists Mary Mason Anderson Williams and Henry Lee Valentine, Lila Valentine’s brother-in-law. The exhibition displays Facebook profiles for each of them that look just like ours, including their relationship statuses, employment and educational histories, and even places around Richmond where they’ve checked in.

The social media interactions are modernized translations of historical documents, complete with the language of today’s online discourse such as hashtags, emojis, likes, heart-reacts, and memes. The exhibition also features an array of other documents, pamphlets, photographs, and propaganda from the suffrage era, compiled from the Valentine’s collection, the Library of Virginia, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, and the VCU Special Collections Library.

Though the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, the Valentine’s suffrage exhibition contains decades’ worth of history on the fight for women’s rights. There’s a selection of historical documentation about the Equal Rights Amendment, including one of Elizabeth Shoemaker Parman’s ERA ratification brochures that circulated in the 1970s, and a 1973 photograph of Adèle Clark controversially lobbying against the passage of the ERA with Delegate Eva Mae Scott.

“We wanted to drive home the fact that the ratification of the 19th Amendment wasn’t a foregone conclusion,” said Vida. “There was still a lot of work to do then, and there still is now. We’ll continue that work from 2020 and on.”

The ERA was first introduced to Congress in 1923, and is designed to guarantee equal rights for all Americans by eradicating sex-based legal disparities in areas such as employment, property, and divorce. While the ERA was ratified by Congress in 1972, technically the congressional deadline for the ERA expired in 1982 when only 35 states had passed it in their legislatures. Since three-quarters of the individual states must ratify an amendment before it is added to the Constitution, three states were still needed for ratification in 1982. But after the 27th Amendment was ratified in 1992 after being introduced to Congress a record-setting 202 years earlier, validity of ratification deadlines has come under scrutiny.

Virginia is now in the national spotlight because the long fight for the ERA could soon be over. In the recent 2019 elections, Democrats won control of both houses of the Virginia legislature, and many of the newly elected have voiced their intent to vote on the ERA. Nevada ratified the ERA in 2017 and Illinois followed in 2018, so if the ERA passes in the Virginia legislature in 2020, it will be the 38th and final state needed to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Thus, there is an unforeseen quality of timeliness to the Valentine’s #BallotBattle exhibition, in addition to its intended concurrence with the 19th Amendment’s centennial year. “We might have to change some of the exhibition’s taglines depending on what happens in the General Assembly,” said Vida, with a palpable tone of excitement.

#BallotBattle will close on September 7, 2020. The Valentine is open from 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. For more details, visit their website.

Photos by Noelle Abrahams

Girl Power in Everlasting Bronze

Madelyne Ashworth | July 18, 2018

Topics: african american history, Maggie L. Walker, Martha Washington, monument, Native American History, Virginia Capitol Foundation, Virginia history, Virginia State Capitol Building

This is girl power at its finest.

The Virginia Capitol Foundation’s latest project is finally underway, as the first four bronze statues for the Virginia Women’s Monument were commissioned this week. Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women’s Monument will ultimately feature 12 important women from Virginia’s history who represent the struggles and accomplishments of women in Virginia from the past 400 years.

The statues will take several months to be completed. This will be the latest positive addition to Richmond’s contentious monument-heavy landscape.

The first four statues feature Cockacoeske, Anne Burras Laydon, Virginia E. Randolph, and Adèle Clark. A Pamunkey leader, an original settler, a post-Civil War black educator, and a champion of the arts and the suffrage movement are among 12 women who broke glass ceilings and persevered through hundreds of years of misogyny.

Randolph, the child of former slaves, taught school in Goochland, Hanover, and Henrico counties. While teaching at Henrico’s Mountain Road School, she developed a new approach to education by creating a successful formula based on practicality, creativity, and involvement from parents and the community. She went on to become the first Jeanes Supervisor Industrial Teacher in 1908, a position she held for over 40 years.

Cockacoeske, (top middle), became leader of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe after the death of her husband, Totopotomoy, in 1656. On May 29, 1677, she signed the Treaty of Middle Plantation, which secured tribal hunting rights and land ownership as well as united several tribes under her authority.

Helping to establish the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in 1909, Adèle Clark played a major role in shaping the woman’s suffrage movement. Clark went on speaking tours to set up chapters throughout the state and was selected as the first chair of the newly organized Virginia League of Women Voters, where she twice served as president. She also helped to establish Virginia’s Art Commission, a precursor to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

“These women played important roles in the early years of the Old Dominion’s recorded history and in the 20th Century when our state and country were undergoing seismic social changes,” said Susan Clarke Schaar, Clerk of the Senate and a member of the Virginia Women’s Monument Commission. “Their stories richly deserve to be remembered and told.”

Other featured women include Maggie L. Walker and Martha Washington. Of the women depicted, four are women of color and eight are white.

In May, StudioEIS held a three-day photo shoot in Brooklyn, N.Y., where 12 female actors dressed in period clothing and posed for designers. Using a 3-D method, artists will use these photos to create molds that will ultimately be used to build the life-sized bronze statues. The monument, whose construction began in June, will be in the oval-shaped plaza in Capitol Square, near the Virginia State Capitol Building.

StudioEIS is a Brooklyn-based sculpture and design studio that created the design for the monument. Each of the 12 statues requires a $200,000 investment to be commissioned. The final date of completion is currently undetermined.

Photo credit for Virginia E. Randolph (top right): County of Henrico, Virginia, Historic Preservation and Museum Services. Photo Credit for Adèle Clark(top left): Virginia Museum of History & Culture

City to unveil Maggie Walker monument this Saturday

Jo Rozycki | July 12, 2017

Topics: Antonio Tobias "Toby" Mendez, Bistro 27, Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, Jackson Ward, Levar Stoney, Maggie L. Walker, Max's on Broad, National Park Service, Public Arts Comission, RVA ARt, RVA Trolley, Studio Two Three, The Valentine, Untold RVA, Venture Richmond, Virginia Repertory Theatre

Maggie L. Walker, the first female bank president of any race to charter a bank in the United States, is getting her long-deserved recognition with her very own statue in Richmond. An unveiling ceremony and celebration for the highly debated monument will occur on Walker’s 153rd birthday, Saturday, July 15, at 10 am, at the intersection of West Broad and Adams streets, the entrance of historic Jackson Ward.

Artist Antonio Tobias “Toby” Mendez, Mayor Levar Stoney, city officials, members of the Walker family, and more attend the ceremony. Walking tours of Jackson Ward by the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, led by Leadership Academy students, will begin at 11am from the statue, followed by a reception at the house.

Photo credit: National Park Service

After the unveiling, attendees are encouraged to make a day around the neighborhood. Free trolley rides will be provided by Venture Richmond from RVA Trolley from Leigh to Belvidere to Marshall to 10th for the event. Many local business are participating in the event, offering giveaways, discounts, and more.

Studio Two Three will have the S23 truck on site with giveaways. The Valentine will offer free admission to those who show an event program. The Black History Museum & Cultural Center will offer cookies and special Maggie L. Walker displays. Max’s on Broad will open early at 8am for the event. Bistro 27 will offer 10 percent off that day to those attending the event, and will be open for brunch starting at 10:30am and dinner at 5pm.

Attendees are also encouraged to stop by Virginia Repertory Theatre to learn about the Walker Theatre, the first purpose built cinema in the area and the first public tribute to Maggie L. Walker in 1936.

To learn more about Walker’s accomplishments, call the number listed on any of Untold RVA installations located between Adams and 2nd which will be up for the unveiling.

The unveiling ceremony and following activities will occur rain or shine. 

Monument honoring Maggie L. Walker to be added to Broad Street, slated for completion by fall 2016

Amy David | October 13, 2015

Topics: city, community, Maggie L. Walker, monument, rva monuments

An African American woman that made history will finally be commemorated with a statue in the city.

[Read more…] about Monument honoring Maggie L. Walker to be added to Broad Street, slated for completion by fall 2016

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