The history of woman suffrage in Oregon takes its rightful place of honor at the Oregon State Capitol State Park in Salem! Join OHS, the Oregon Women’s History Consortium (OWHC), and the Oregon State Capitol Foundation on Thursday, July 6, 2023, from 11am to 12pm for a public event to mark the unveiling of a new, woman-suffrage-history marker on the east end of the Capitol grounds. Featured guests will include Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Gwen Carr of the Oregon Black Pioneers.
The marker was created as part of the 2020 woman suffrage centennial and the work of OWHC with the National Votes for Women Trail. Sponsored by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, the National Votes for Women Trail seeks to recognize and celebrate the enormous diversity of people and groups active in the struggle for woman suffrage. The Trail consists of two parts: a database with a digital map and a program of historical markers for about 250 woman suffrage sites across the country.
Funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and the federal Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, markers have been created and donated to each state and territory in the United States. Each marker is unique, and the content on the Capitol marker notes the state’s suffrage history and Oregon’s ratification of the 19th Amendment. The unveiling date recognizes a historical moment in Oregon: on July 6, 1905, Susan B. Anthony unveiled a statue of Sacagawea (Agaideka (Lemi) Shoshone) at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland.
In 2020, the Oregon Historical Society commemorated the centennial of woman suffrage through an original exhibition, Nevertheless, They Persisted: Women’s Voting Rights and the 19th Amendment. This exhibition shared the many ways Oregon history connects to the national history of woman suffrage and to the complex history of democracy in the United States. Portions of this exhibition are available to view online, and related curriculum is also available for educators.
