Join us this spring as our virtual Suffrage Centennial Lecture Series continues and we explore both suffrage history and modern-day voting issues. In 2020 we celebrated two monumental events in American history—the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, granting American women the right to vote, albeit with barriers for many women of color, and the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, which at least nominally enfranchised African-American men. This series evaluates the legacy of these political milestones.

Spring lectures and featured speakers include:

Feb. 25: Getting Out the Vote—R.I. Rep. Justine Caldwell, D-East Greenwich, veteran campaign strategist Kate Coyne-McCoy, and political scientist Stella Rouse will evaluate the legacy of the 19th Amendment by discussing contemporary initiatives to empower not only women but also millennials and Latinos in politics.

March 4: The Queer History of the Suffrage Movement—Historian Wendy Rouse, associate professor at San Jose State University, will discuss the traditional narrative of suffrage history that sanitized the private lives and public personas of individual suffragists, contributing to the historical erasure of the lives and loves of prominent gay suffragists.

March 25: Historical Perspectives on Woman Suffrage: Rhode Island and Beyond—This panel will explore the history of woman suffrage in Rhode Island as well as the legacy of women running for office today. It will feature historian and Newport History editor Elizabeth Stevens; historian and RIC associate professor Elisa Miller; and political scientist and URI lecturer Emily Lynch.

April 21: Felon Disenfranchisement and the History of Women’s Voting Rights—Historian Pippa Holloway, the Douglas Southall Freeman Distinguished Chair in History at the University of Richmond, will discuss her research on felon disenfranchisement as it relates to the history of women’s voting rights.

The series is sponsored by the URI Center for the Humanities, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Honors Program, Women’s Leadership Council, Women’s Center, Gender and Sexuality Center, and the Suffrage Centennial Committee.

For more information, please visit uri.edu/suffrage.