An evening with Matilda Joslyn Gage Artist in Residence, Vanessa Johnson.
Griot Vanessa Johnson’s mixed media fiber arts exhibition honors the stories of often little known and forgotten Black, Latina, Indigenous, and Asian women of the past and present who have played a pivotal role in lifting up all women in America’s equal voting rights movement.

“Lifting As We Climb”
Mixed Media Fiber Arts Exhibition

In 1920 the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granted women the right to vote in the United States. But not every woman was granted access to the voting booth. From the 1800’s to present day, Women of Color have had to fight against both gender and racial barriers to secure their right to vote. When mainstream groups fought to block Women of Color from voting through poll taxes, Jim Crow Laws, discriminatory voter registration tests, and violence by white nationalist hate groups, and even discrimination within the Women’ Rights Movement - Women of Color have challenged disenfranchisement through forming their own organizations, voter registration drives, journalism, grassroots organizing, legal action, and direct protest. In today’s America gerrymandering, I.D. restrictions, limited numbers of polling booths in minority communities, restrictive hours that polls are open in marginalized neighborhoods, and a growing movement to repeal the 19th Amendment continues to challenge the right to vote by Women of Color.