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National Park Service

U.S Department of the Interior

Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science

Interpretation, Education and Volunteers

WOMEN’S VOICES 

WOMEN’S VOTES

Nineteenth Amendment 

Centennial Commemoration 

Summary Report

Suggested citation: Springate, Megan, Ella Wagner, and Barbara Little. Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes: The National Park 

Service Commemoration of the 19th Amendment Centennial. Washington, DC: National Park Service, 2022.
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In 2020, we celebrated a key milestone for women’s contributions to a 

thriving democracy and the hard-won right for some women to vote. 

Just as importantly, this anniversary commemorated and highlighted the 

discrimination and exclusion within this landmark moment in United States 

history. 

Complete history tells of struggles and defeats as well as victories. It 

shows us not only historical figures we want to emulate and admire, but 

also those whose values fall short of democratic ideals. Guidance for this 

commemoration boldly and plainly emphasized that women of many races, 

religions, and class backgrounds were key leaders in the suffrage movement; 

that some white suffragists used racist tactics to advance their cause; and 

that many women of color continued to face exclusion from voting even 

after ratification. Our employees and audiences demanded that these stories 

be told in full. Any commemoration that did not emphasize the role of 

women of color in the suffrage movement and the persistence of barriers to 

the ballot after 1920 would have been a failure. 

The National Park Service owes an enormous thanks to all who made the 

19th Amendment Centennial meaningful and memorable. Scores of people 

committed collateral duty time to ensure its success and showed special 

dedication and resilience when a global pandemic threatened to obscure 

this vital commemoration. The creativity, bravery, innovation, and passion of 

19th Amendment anniversary program leadership and participants is a credit 

to all. It is proof of the growing voice and power of women in our agency 

and society.

FOREWORD

Joy Beasley

Associate Director

Cultural Resources, Partnerships & Science

Tom Medema

Associate Director

Interpretation, Education and Volunteers
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Table of Contents

FOREWORD 2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

INTRODUCTION 6

19th Amendment to the United States Constitution: 6

VISION & GOALS 8

Vision Statement 8

Commemoration Goals 9

ORGANIZATION, PLANNING, AND PREPARATION 11

National Working Group and Sub-Groups 13

Staffing 16

Staff Learning and Development 19

IMPLEMENTATION 22

Communication 23

Digital Strategy 24

Interpretive Themes, Audiences, and Tips for Connection 26

Partnerships and Collaboration 29

Thanking Participants 33

RESPONDING TO THE COVID-19 GLOBAL PANDEMIC 35

PRODUCTS 37

Handbook 37

Eastern National Products 37

Digital Content 38

PROGRAMMING 45

National Programming 45

Signature Parks 51

Region, Park, and Program Activities 55

Social Media 55

LESSONS LEARNED AND LOOKING FORWARD 66

Lessons Learned 67

Looking Forward 70

Appendices List 71
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On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment was formally adopted as part of 

the US Constitution. The right to vote in the United States could no longer 

be denied on the basis of sex. In 2020, the nation and the National Park 

Service observed the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The NPS 

joined other organizations in telling a more diverse and complex story of the 

women’s suffrage movement, acknowledging the importance of women of 

color in the movement, the presence of racism in suffrage organizations, and 

the women who remained excluded from the vote even after 1920.

Guided by a robust early visioning process, a flexible and staff-driven 

Working Group led by National Coordinator Megan Springate in the Cultural 

Resources Office of Interpretation and Education oversaw planning for the 

Commemoration. The vision statement read: 

“In recognition of the centennial of the passage of the 19th 

Amendment to the US Constitution that secured women the vote, 

the National Park Service and its partners will explore the complex 

stories of women’s suffrage within the interwoven contexts of 

civil and political rights for all Americans. At national park sites, 

in our programs, and working with our partners in communities 

throughout the nation, we will seek to engage all Americans 

in recognizing and celebrating the contributions of women 

throughout our shared history.” 

In partnership with two signature parks -- Women’s Rights National Historical 

Park in Seneca Falls, New York and Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National 

Monument in Washington, DC -- the Working Group developed interpretive 

themes and physical and digital products; collaborated on communication 

and digital strategy; provided learning and development opportunities for 

staff and partners; and developed relationships with internal and external 

partners. Its structure allowed participants to work together across parks, 

programs, regions, and job titles, and created flexibility that proved crucial 

when responding to the unforeseen events of 2020. 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted much of the careful planning for the 

Commemoration, but parks and programs did an admirable job of adapting 

and finding a way forward, especially using digital tools and social media 

to reach broader audiences. The strategies deployed in responding 

to the pandemic restrictions represent important resources for future 

commemorations.

Programming organized at the national level included posters by Harpers 

Ferry Center; the Girl Scouts of America limited edition commemoration 

patch; the wearing of the “Jailed for Freedom” Suffrage Pin as a new 

uniform item from August 1-31, 2020; and the “Forward Into Light” 

illumination project on August 26, 2020, in collaboration with the Women’s 

Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC). Lasting products from the 

commemoration included an official Handbook; four podcast series; two 

public art projects in collaboration with WSCC; and a vast amount of digital 

women’s history content for NPS.gov, including two subject sites, extensive 

new content on park websites, and nearly 450 new elements of shared 

content. The National Park Foundation honored the 19th Amendment 

Centennial with a new Women in Parks Fund to support a new Women in 

Parks Initiative. In an inaugural round of grantmaking announced in August 

2020, the fund distributed more than $460,000 to 23 projects that included 

oral histories, internships, waysides, public programs, and much more. As of 

Fall 2021, the NPF continues to raise money through this fund. 

By supporting and encouraging participation at varying levels of 

commitment—from social media posts through fully-fabricated exhibits 

and new interpretive programs—the Commemoration achieved a high 

rate of participation. At least 300 NPS units participated, as well as 15 

National Historic Trails, 6 National Scenic Trails, 10 partner organizations, 

29 programs, and 7 regional offices. This impressive level of involvement 

has established a base of knowledge about and interest in women’s history 

across the NPS that will hopefully serve as a foundation for future work. 

Because parks and programs reach every county and parish in every state 

and territory, NPS had the opportunity to tell a truly national story built 

from local histories in places across the nation.

Conducted under the unprecedented circumstances of 2020, the lessons 

learned from 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration reinforce the 

importance of telling a full and complete story of US history, connecting our 

storytelling to NPS places, and building strong relationships and an attitude 

of resilience that can support the agency in responding to unforeseen 

events. 
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19th Amendment to the United States Constitution: 

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 

denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 

account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 

appropriate legislation.” 

On June 4, 1919, the 19th Amendment passed in the US Senate after passing 

in the US House on May 21. It was not until August 18, 1920 that Tennessee 

became the 36th state to ratify, passing the three-fourths threshold 

requirement for the amendment to become law. On August 26, 1920 the 

19th Amendment was formally adopted as part of the US Constitution.

In 2020, the nation observed the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. 

Its ratification meant that the right to vote in the United States could no 

longer be denied on the basis of sex. Ratification represented a huge victory 

for the suffrage movement. But it was also only one point on a long and 

winding path toward full civil and political rights for everyone in America. 

The NPS joined other organizations and agencies in telling a more diverse 

and complex story about the suffrage movement than traditionally had been 

offered. Content on NPS.gov and in commemoration guidance emphasized 

that women of many races, religions, and class backgrounds were key 

leaders in the suffrage movement; that some white suffragists used racist 

tactics to advance their cause; and that the barriers to women’s voting 

continued to stand after the ratification in 1920. The public was not only 

receptive to this nuance but also demanded it. Any commemoration that did 

not emphasize the role of women of color in the suffrage movement and 

the partial nature of its victory would have been a failure. 

The National Park Service’s 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration 

encouraged parks, programs, and partners to participate in the 

Commemoration by discovering and sharing their stories of historical 

and contemporary women; uncovering their connections to the 19th 

Amendment; and exploring civics and the process of social change. 

INTRODUCTION 
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By supporting and encouraging participation at varying levels of 

commitment—from social media posts through fully-fabricated exhibits 

and new interpretive programs—the Commemoration achieved a high 

rate of participation. At least 300 NPS units participated, as well as 15 

National Historic Trails, 6 National Scenic Trails, 10 partner organizations, 

29 programs, and 7 regional offices. This impressive level of involvement 

has established a base of knowledge about and interest in women’s history 

across the NPS that will hopefully serve as a foundation for future work. 

Because parks and programs reach every county in every state, NPS had the 

opportunity to tell a truly national story built from local histories in places 

across the nation.

The global Covid-19 pandemic upended much of the careful planning 

parks and programs had been doing to prepare for the 19th Amendment 

Centennial Commemoration. Although long-planned events were canceled, 

physical exhibits closed, and many NPS staff teleworked, NPS staff undertook 

heroic and often very successful efforts to move planned programming 

online and develop creative ways to reach the public. 
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The national working group drafted the vision and goal statements with 

the intent to provide framing for the NPS 19th Amendment Centennial 

Commemoration that was not only thematically specific, but also broad 

enough that all parks and programs could participate. When crafting these 

goals, the working group kept in mind the desire for lasting change in 

sharing women’s histories. The group used “blue sky” sessions to try to 

imagine the best possible outcomes if there were no limits: that is, if budget 

and capacity were not factors. This visioning allowed the consideration of 

new avenues of possibility and fostered transformational work. While many 

of these ideas were ultimately not possible, the “blue sky” exercise shaped 

the overall flavor and ambition of the commemorative goals. 

Vision Statement 

“In recognition of the centennial of the passage of the 19th 

Amendment to the US Constitution that secured women the vote, 

the National Park Service and its partners will explore the complex 

stories of women’s suffrage within the interwoven contexts of civil 

and political rights for all Americans. 

At national park sites, in our programs, and working with our 

partners in communities throughout the nation, we will seek 

to engage all Americans in recognizing and celebrating the 

contributions of women throughout our shared history.” 

VISION & GOALS
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Commemoration Goals 

Goals for the NPS 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration took 

three forms: (1) overall goals, which set the foundation for the entire 

commemoration, and specific sets of goals for (2) public-facing and (3) 

internal audiences. 

Overall Goals 

Expand understanding and recognition of this important moment in 

American history and what it meant to all Americans.

Connect broadly to women’s rights and women’s history as well as civil 

rights (that is, history leading up to the Amendment and its effects and 

repercussions moving forward in time). 

Explore the complexity of the fight for the vote: class, race, why fight for the 

vote in the first place, who was left out, and related questions. This goal 

presents the opportunity to connect with women’s history. 

Civics Describe the complexity of how change works in America (protest, 

law, rights, coalitions, and allies). Share both the wins and the challenges. 

Recognize that the 19th Amendment did not provide full voting rights to all 

women nor did it achieve full equality for women. 

Goals for the Public 

Sustainable Products - Create sustainable products that last and have effects 

beyond the centennial.

Civics, Voting Rights, and Social Change - Place stories into context of civics 

and voting rights in the United States including comparing and contrasting 

various methods that affect social and political change. 

Relevance - Provide opportunities for dialogue and connection with civic 

responsibility, voting rights, citizenship, and women’s history that allows 

participants to reflect on the relevance of these events in their lives.
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Goals for the Agency 

Improve Tools and Resources - Improve tools and resources for the NPS to 

tell and incorporate women’s history at parks and throughout our programs 

including (but not limited to) the National Historic Landmark (NHL) program, 

the National Register of Historic Places, Heritage Documentation Programs 

(HABS/HAER/HALS), National Heritage Areas, and with our Tribal Partners. 

Balanced Representation - Achieve greater balance in representation of 

women and women’s history in parks and programs.

Sustainable Products - Create legacy and sustainable products and programs 

that survive beyond the centennial. (i.e., NHL nominations, web content, 

etc.) 

Outreach for Diversity - Expand outreach and partnerships with the goal to 

engage more diverse networks of audiences through a range of media and 

learning opportunities. 

Collaboration - Expand and optimize collaboration among NPS entities, NPS 

and academics, NPS and partners. 
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The National Park Service 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration had 

success due in part to planning that began early and to an organizational 

structure that remained flexible and responsive as conditions changed. The 

heart of the effort was the enthusiastic participation of NPS staff from across 

the Service.

Planning for the Commemoration formally began in January 2017 with a 

planning and visioning meeting held at Independence National Historical 

Park in Philadelphia. 

On June 17, 2017 the Acting Director established the 19th Amendment 

Commemoration National Park Service Working Group to coordinate 

planning for the Centennial. (APPENDIX A: Director’s Memos) He appointed 

Megan Springate, Interpretation Coordinator in the Cultural Resources 

Office of Interpretation and Education, as the National Coordinator. He 

asked each Regional Director to nominate a representative and assigned 

the following people to represent senior leadership: Superintendents of 

Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality 

National Monument, and Independence Hall National Historical Park; 

Acting Associate Director of Interpretation, Education and Volunteers; 

Acting Associate Director of Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science; 

and Stephanie Toothman, former Associate Director of Cultural Resources, 

Partnerships and Science, as an advisor. 

The national coordinator, who led planning and implementation, was based 

in the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education (CROIE) in 

the Washington Area Support Office (WASO), managed by Barbara Little. 

The purpose of this office is to administer youth programs, develop tools for 

educators, and help parks and programs connect their stories to national 

narratives like the 19th Amendment centennial. 

ORGANIZATION, PLANNING, AND PREPARATION 
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In April 2017, Congress passed the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission 

Act, creating the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission (Pub. L. 115-31, 

APPENDIX C--S. 847) 

“to ensure a suitable observance of the centennial of the passage 

and ratification of the 19th Amendment of the Constitution of the 

United States providing for women’s suffrage.”

 The Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC) coordinated the 

effort across federal agencies. Included in the membership of the WSCC 

were representatives of the Library of Congress, National Archives and 

Records Administration, and the Smithsonian Institution. Susan Combs, 

Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department 

of Interior, represented the National Park Service on the WSCC. Within the 

NPS, Tom Medema, acting Associate Director for Interpretation, Education 

and Volunteers (IEV), and Joy Beasley, acting Associate Director for Cultural 

Resources, Partnerships, and Science (CRPS), worked with the NPS Office of 

the Director to issue service-wide commemoration information and served as 

liaison to Susan Combs and the WSCC. 

Planning and implementation overlapped and ran in concert, supported 

by dedicated staff and a service-wide working group that allowed for 

maximum flexibility and participation by a wide range of staff and partners. 

Most of the national planning was finished by June 2019. At that time 

representatives from every region met in Washington, DC to formally initiate 

the service-wide commemoration, 100 years after Congress passed the 19th 

Amendment and set in motion the ratification process (see Implementation 

section below). As the commemoration unfolded, certain projects popped 

up that required fast planning and implementation, such as the WSCC’s 

illumination project, “Forward into Light,” discussed below. 
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National Working Group and Sub-Groups

Planning for the commemoration was shaped at the national level by the 

19th Amendment Working Group, led by National Coordinator, Megan 

Springate. To complement specific appointees, the Coordinator created an 

open invitation for people from across the NPS -- from interns and seasonal 

hires to superintendents and regional and WASO program staff -- to selfselect to join the working group. Recognizing that this work was, for 

many, collateral duty and that capacity across the NPS was stretched thin, 

joining the working group did not obligate anyone to attend meetings or 

take on additional work. Instead, participants were invited to share ideas 

and collaborate with others (or just listen in), and to take part in working 

sub-groups as they were interested and able. By inviting NPS employees, 

contractors, staff, and interns at all levels to participate in centennial 

planning, the working groups established a shared leadership structure and 

cultivated an environment where everyone could join in and exchange ideas. 

This structure was extremely successful in getting people out of normal silos 

and giving more junior employees an opportunity to have their voices heard 

and contribute innovative ideas. Over 130 people across the NPS joined the 

Working Group email list. A full list of those who were part of the Working 

Group is in Appendix B: 19th Amendment Working Group Members and 

Subcommittees. 

The full Working Group met monthly via telephone. Video meetings were 

not used, recognizing that bandwidth limitations faced by many in the field 

would have prevented their participation. Meeting minutes were taken 

collaboratively within the agenda via online documents. Working sub-groups 

met on their own schedules. All meeting minutes, working documents, 

and drafts were available to all working group members throughout the 

planning process via shared drive. This complete transparency helped to 

foster an environment of collaboration and encouraged participants to stay 

engaged and active. 
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Within the larger Working Group, ad hoc sub-groups formed and dissolved 

as needs were identified and addressed. The initial draft of the vision 

statement and goals for the commemoration are examples of this kind of 

short-term work. Some working sub-groups were established early on, and 

continued to be relevant throughout the commemoration, including the 

communications, partnerships, and interpretation working sub-groups. 

Sub-groups also worked on retail products, programming, trainings and 

webinars, new research, digital content, the new women’s history website, 

and more. [full list in Appendix B] As with the larger Working Group, 

membership in these working sub-groups was voluntary, and people could 

participate in, join, and leave these sub-groups as needed or desired. This 

open and flexible approach to planning and organizing was successful, as 

it allowed participants to contribute according to what capacity they had 

available. It also helped to avoid hierarchical structures in the planning 

process, allowing people at different levels and across parks and programs to 

work together. 

One of the first actions by the Working Group was to frame the Vision 

and Goals that would guide the NPS Commemoration. Based on initial 

conversations with the entire working group, a sub-group drafted text 

that was then brought back to the whole working group for discussion and 

editing. After considerable discussion, consensus on final wording and scope 

proved impossible, though there was agreement on the essence and intent.

The goals and guidance were considered “working drafts.” This designation 

recognized that, overall, there was general consensus on the direction of 

the commemoration while specific aspects could evolve as needed. This 

approach allowed the Working Group to move forward in planning while 

leaving room to revisit as needed, in case of unforeseen circumstances. This 

flexibility was of enormous benefit when it became necessary to respond to 

the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. 
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One of the challenges of a service-wide working group, comprised of a 

wide range of people who had neither worked together nor met, was to 

create and sustain a functioning and cooperative group. Developing vision 

and goals yields a somewhat abstract result, however building something 

together offers an opportunity for collaboration with a tangible outcome. 

The “20 Suffragists to Know for 2020” project served this purpose. It built 

both camaraderie and significant content for the new Women’s History web 

site. It also encouraged people to perform research and to create people 

pages as shared content for NPS.gov. To begin this project, the National 

Coordinator polled the working group and others for names of suffragists 

to include. From the resulting list of approximately 70 suffragists, the 

Working Group voted on which would be included in the 20 for 2020 series. 

The final selection was based on this input, adjusted slightly to consider 

representation of geography, race, class, ability, and time period. The result 

was a spotlight on the suffrage movement that included not only famous 

figures like Susan B. Anthony, but lesser-known suffragists of color, like Dr. 

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and Zitkala-Ša; people who fought for voting rights 

after 1920, like Dolores Huerta and Septima Clark; and reformers like Jane 

Addams who are more well known for other endeavors, but who also were 

proponents of suffrage. The racial and ethnic diversity represented in the 20 

for 2020 series helped to set an expectation that research and interpretation 

about the suffrage movement would be as inclusive as representative as 

possible. 
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Staffing 

The home office for the national coordination of the Commemoration 

was the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education in the 

Washington Support Office, managed by Barbara Little. Megan Springate, 

Interpretation Coordinator, served as the National Coordinator for the 

Commemoration from June 2017 until February 2021 when she left the 

National Park Service. 

The National Coordinator carried out and supported a variety of planning 

and implementation activities included the following: 

• Coordinating and leading the national working group for the 

Commemoration; 

• Participating and/or leading task-focused sub-groups of the working 

group; 

• Liaising with internal partners and with external partners; 

• Researching, writing, and building NPS.gov original content for the public; 

• Developing or supporting the development of products for the public; 

• Assisting parks and programs with their Commemoration activities 

through 

• creating extensive resource material (i.e. the Sharepoint site), 

• providing learning opportunities such as through the webinar series, 

and 

• encouraging participation at all levels of commitment; 

• Collecting data and summarizing activities; and 

• Saying thank you by acknowledging the efforts of parks, programs, and 

partners for the Commemoration. 

A national commemoration requires staffing beyond a skilled coordinator 

and a willing group of NPS staff undertaking collateral duty. Members of 

the working group shared in many of the above activities. Regions and 

the signature parks dedicated extensive staff time as well. In addition, 

the following roles provided national level logistical support, content 

development, and assistance to parks and programs. 
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Digital Content and CMS Developer 

In 2017, funding from the Northeast Regional Office and WASO CRPS 

enabled assistance through the Cooperative Agreement between the 

National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) and 

the National Park Service. NCSHPO engaged a graduate student as an 

independent contractor to develop both an online Women’s History subject 

site and a new women’s history themed travel itinerary for the Discover 

Our Shared Heritage travel itinerary program. Katie Crawford-Lackey 

began her work in May 2018. She worked collaboratively with the National 

Coordinator, the staff of CROIE, and the NPS digital team to create both sites 

through research, writing, and building in NPS.gov. 

19th Amendment Centennial Ranger – 120-day detail 

Susan Philpott from Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument 

served a 120-day detail as the 19th Amendment Centennial Ranger from 

May to September 2019. During her detail, she worked with the National 

Coordinator, staff in the Commemoration’s home office, the WASO 

Communication Office, her home park, and others across the service on a 

wide variety of activities. 

Women’s History Fellow 

With WASO CRPS funding, The American Conservation Experience provided 

a partner hire to serve as the Women’s History Fellow from January 2020 

to March 2021. Ella Wagner provided essential support to the National 

Coordinator. She attended the working group calls and followed up with 

requests for information and assistance. She collected data, summarized 

activities using the records of the working groups, and assisted in 

distributing thousands of thank you commemorative Challenge Coins to 

parks, programs and partners who participated in the NPS 19th Amendment 

Centennial Commemoration. Ella assisted four parks to provide them 

with research, writing and assistance with their park-specific research. She 

worked with park staff to present a webinar and other presentations at 

both internal and external conferences about effective sharing of women’s 

history. She provided expertise not otherwise available to parks and thereby 

supported their participation in the Commemoration. 
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Interns 

Talented short-term interns performed a variety of tasks to support 

the centennial goals. Such work included research to support park 

interpretation; creating interpretive tours, educational materials, and 

exhibits; and researching and developing digital content such as articles and 

story maps for NPS.gov. The Commemoration’s central office hosted several 

interns from 2018 to 2021. In 2019 and 2020 parks had the opportunity to 

compete for funding assistance to host CRDIP interns thanks to cost-sharing 

grants from the Interpretation, Education and Volunteers Directorate. Some 

of these internships were eligible for Direct Hire Authority (DHA). Benefiting 

parks include Boston NHP, Gateway Arch NP, Haleakalā NP, Klondike Gold 

Rush NHP, President’s Park, Maggie L. Walker NHS, Martin Van Buren NHS, 

Olmstead Center for Landscape Preservation, Women’s Rights NHP, and 

Yellowstone NP. Appendix C: Internships lists over a dozen interns employed 

through the Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program (CRDIP) and the 

National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE). 

NPS Mellon Humanities Fellows 

The National Park Foundation (NPF) received a grant from The Andrew 

H. Mellon Foundation to advance the NPS education mission through 

new scholarship in the public humanities to help the agency tell a more 

comprehensive story of all Americans. The National Park Service Mellon 

Humanities Fellows: A Trio of Fellowships to Advance the Education Mission 

Through Scholarship program recruited in 2017 and fellowships extended 

into early 2022. Three postdoctoral fellows, each with mentors from 

both the Interpretation and Cultural Resources directorates, began their 

fellowships in September 2018. The topics were the Legacy of the Civil Rights 

Movement, the History of Labor and Productivity, and Gender and Sexuality 

Equality. The first two Fellows were hosted at WASO and the latter was 

hosted by the regional office in Philadelphia and was designed in part to 

assist with the 19th Amendment centennial. 
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In addition to assisting WORI, the Fellow, Sylvea Hollis, provided a servicewide webinar, “’Obtain the Ballot and Look Alive...’: Black Women’s 

Voting Pursuits Before and After the 19th Amendment” in May 2019. 

The other Fellows incorporated women’s history into their work as well. 

Sylvea Hollis and Eleanor Mahoney, the Fellow in the History of Labor and 

Productivity, collaborated together on a project funded through a National 

Park Foundation grant, that has resulted in a podcast series called “Ballot 

Blocked” (Ballot Blocked - Labor History (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.

gov). This six-part series explores histories of voting rights in the United 

States. Through interviews with historians and other scholars, it traces the 

uneven and fitful course of suffrage from the period of the Civil War to 

the present-day. Mia Carey, the Fellow in the Legacy of the Civil Rights 

Movement, developed a nine-part series on Black Women and the Struggle 

for Equality (Black Women and the Struggle for Equality - Women’s History 

(U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)) which highlights stories of Black 

women connected by an intricate intergenerational network. 

Staff Learning and Development 

NPS staff had numerous opportunities to learn about the Commemoration 

and how to participate, to discuss their search for women’s history with 

others across the Service through the Common Learning Portal, and to 

perform research with materials available through the Department of 

Interior Library. They could also learn about the overlooked diversity of the 

suffrage movement through webinar presentations and from the expanding 

content on the Women’s History subject site. The availability of current 

scholarship focused on inclusion made it easier to incorporate diversity into 

programming. Learning and Development opportunities also opened the 

possibilities for discovering and interpreting women’s history in parks that 

had not previously done so, enriching experiences for staff and public alike. 

During the planning process and continuing through the Commemoration, 

all available communication avenues were used to spread the word across 

the service about the NPS 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration. 

These included Director’s memos; the Green and Grey newsletter; regional 

newsletters; Interpretation, Education & Volunteers Connections newsletter; 

the AD Update for Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science newsletter; 

InsideNPS; email lists; the Common Learning Portal; WASO COMMS servicewide monthly communications strategy calls; service-wide communications 

calls by other offices, including NHL and National Heritage Areas; social 
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media; and webinars. In addition, the National Coordinator developed an 

extensive Sharepoint site to share resources easily. [See Appendix D for an 

example newsletter from IE&V]

Internal Sharepoint Site

The National Coordinator first created the 19th Amendment Centennial 

Commemoration Resources on InsideNPS. Due to the change in digital 

communication services from Google to Microsoft, the site had to be 

transferred in early 2020 and recreated on an Office365 Sharepoint site. As 

resources were developed, the Coordinator updated and expanded the site, 

which served as a “one stop shop” for parks and programs across the NPS 

looking to take part in the Commemoration. 

The sections of the site ultimately developed were: the home page (including 

news); Vision and Goals; Digital and Communications Strategy and Guidance; 

History Basics; Webinars (Histories and How-Tos); Women’s History Forum on 

the Common Learning Portal; Best Practices for History Lessons and Discovery 

Events (courtesy the national Park History Program); Interpreters Toolkit 

(courtesy of Region 1); Graphics Resources; About the Virtual Running Club’s 

Ratification Race; Girl Scout Ranger 19th Amendment Centennial Program; 

Women of the National Park Service Project; 19th Amendment Podcasts; 

Forward Into Light – An Initiative to Commemorate the 19th Amendment; 

Partners and Cooperating Associations; Internal Documents; and Contacts. 

See Appendix E: Internal Sharepoint Site Material. 

Common Learning Portal Women’s History Group 

https://mylearning.nps.gov/groups/womens-history/ 

The Common Learning Portal Women’s History Group established a 

centralized place for discussion and sharing resources related to women’s 

history. 
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Research Resources 

Access to research database Women and Social Movements in the United 

States, 1600-2000 was made available to DOI employees behind the firewall, 

via the DOI Library, starting in Fall 2018. 

Webinars 

Several 19th Amendment related webinars were offered service-wide. These 

included both “nuts and bolts” offerings, including overviews of the NPS 

commemoration and details about the Girl Scout 19th Amendment Ranger 

program, and historic context webinars presented by subject matter experts. 

Scholarly webinars focused on the overlooked diversity of the suffrage 

movement, centering the work of, among others, Black suffragists, labor 

union women, and queer women. Many of these were organized by the 

NPS 19th Amendment Centennial National Coordinator, but others also 

organized webinars for the series, including the Mellon Fellows and the 

Women’s History Fellow. A list of these webinars can be found in Appendix F: 

19th Amendment Webinar List. 
22

After more than two years of planning, staff learning and development, 

and the production of extensive digital content, the service-wide 

commemoration formally began. All regions and numerous parks and 

programs were represented at the implementation meeting in June 2019, 

100 years after Congress passed the 19th Amendment and set in motion the 

ratification process. 

Approximately 30 people attended the gathering in Washington DC. 

Representatives from each of the NPS regions; the Office of Communications; 

Interpretation, Education and Volunteers; Cultural Resources, Partnerships 

and Science; Youth Programs; EEO; several parks, and the National Park 

Foundation heard from the Director and shared their experiences and 

plans. A facilitated dialogue by Susan Philpott and Brittany OmoleyeHall, entitled “Women’s Suffrage in Black and White,” set the tone for an 

inclusive commemoration that would not shy away from the history of 

racism. Participants agreed that one of the outcomes of the meeting should 

be a letter from the Director to encourage servicewide participation. Acting 

Director Vela sent that letter to all staff via email on November 4, 2019. In it, 

he wrote: 

“To honor the significance of the centennial, by March 1, 2020, I 

invite every park and program across the National Park Service to 

help share the complex history of the 19th Amendment, and also 

women’s history more broadly, by developing 19th Amendment 

and women’s history content through social media, NPS.gov 

digital content, and other interpretive products and programs. . . 

. Together, we will commemorate the role of women in America’s 

ongoing quest for a more perfect Union.” 

The meeting agenda and attendees are available in Appendix G: 2019 All 

Region Kick-Off Meeting Materials. The Director’s November 4 Memo is 

available in Appendix A: Director’s Memos. 

IMPLEMENTATION
23

Communication

The national communications office (WASO COMMS) prepared 

communications tools and guidance integral to planning and 

implementation. The goal for NPS communications around the 

Commemoration was to invite visitors and the public to engage with parks 

and NPS programs by offering an integrated suite of communications tools 

to 

• position national parks and programs as the go-to places to explore this 

complex story, 

• offer engaging opportunities for exploring these stories, and 

• foster opportunities for dialogue and discussion about park and NPS 

program stories of the struggle for women’s suffrage and related issues of 

civil and political rights for all Americans.

Communications guidance included topline communications messages, 

an introduction to the Race to Ratification social media campaign, an 

introduction to the Women’s History subject site on NPS.gov (including tags 

for shared content), and a brief introduction to the social media guidance 

(including hashtags). 

The office also provided – in collaboration with WASO Partnerships – 

guidance for participating in several of the national level programs. 

WASO COMMS actively engaged NPS audiences, particularly through 

pushing out social media engagement pieces for programming and 

products including the virtual 5k race, podcasts, and others. In addition to 

providing information on these offerings to the public, these posts were 

also reshared by parks and programs, providing a way to participate in the 

commemoration requiring few resources at the park/program level. 

They hosted a live Twitter chat in collaboration with WSCC focused on 

Episode 3: “Truth is of No Color” of the podcast “And Nothing Less.” 

The WSCC and PRX produced this seven-part series to commemorate the 

Centennial. Episode 3 explores the history of the fight for suffrage as more 

than a story about women’s rights; it is a story about civil rights, as much 

about race as about gender. 
24

WASO COMMS spearheaded the “Race to Ratification” real-time timeline of 

the ratification progress of the 19th Amendment. On the 100th anniversary 

of each state ratifying (or voting not to ratify) the amendment, the national 

NPS social media accounts carried a short summary, written as though it 

was happening in real time (that is, as if no one yet knew that eventually 

the Amendment was ratified and became law). These linked back to 19th 

Amendment resources on NPS.gov. Entries were written by staff in WASO 

COMMS, CROIE, and Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument. 

For August 2020, the national communications theme was #BeyondThe19th, 

focusing the centennial of the amendment becoming law on what happened 

afterwards, including those women, including African Americans, Native 

Americans, and others who continued to be excluded from the ballot 

because of their race. As part of the #BeyondThe19th, WASO COMMS 

created a landing page on NPS.gov that guided visitors to a curated 

collection of 19th Amendment and women’s history content on the website. 

Beginning in 2019, the WASO Communications office connected other 

monthly communications themes to 19th Amendment/Women’s History 

content. This continued throughout 2020 and continued into 2021. 

Digital Strategy 

One of the main goals of the NPS Communication strategy was to position 

national parks and programs as the go-to places to explore this complex 

story. Robust digital content was foundational to the NPS Commemoration. 

NPS was successful because it invested early and made content available 

both for the public and for the use of NPS staff as parks began to look for 

ways to participate in the commemoration. 

Through a cooperative agreement with NCSHPO, noted above under 

staffing, NPS created a Women’s History site that would both highlight the 

19th Amendment Centennial and be evergreen in centering Women’s history 

in NPS.gov even after the Commemoration had passed. The site is interlinked 

with the Telling All Americans’ Stories overarching subject site to maximize 

its findability. The site Women’s History (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.

gov) launched in August 2018. The extensive itinerary, Travel Where Women 

Made History (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov), launched later that 

year, also in partnership with NCSHPO. One of the lessons learned from the 

earlier NPS Civil War to Civil Rights Commemoration was to avoid creating a 

commemoration-specific website but instead to incorporate content into the 

main site. By designing the site in this way, the intensive workload required 
25

to migrate content from a temporary to a permanent subject website was 

avoided. 

The digital strategy was to use shared content on NPS.gov to incorporate 

local, regional, and site-specific 19th Amendment and women’s histories into 

our telling of all American’s stories. These shared content pieces are then 

pulled into the Women’s History subject site, the 19th Amendment subsite 

of the Women’s History subject site, the Travel Where Women Made History 

subject site, and others. Shared content is web content that is created once 

and then used in multiple places across the NPS content management system 

(CMS). Types of shared content (called elements) include news, events, 

articles, people, places, things to do, and trip ideas. By tagging shared 

content, it can be pulled into multiple places. For example, the people 

page about Helen Keller is tagged women’s history, disability history, labor 

history, medical history, civil rights, voting rights, American Heroes, suffrage, 

and 20 for 2020. Subject sites about each of those subjects, therefore, can 

automatically pull in her people page. This lets NPS.gov work smarter, not 

harder, but also helps to share the complexities of history and of people’s 

lives. 

The office provided tags for ensuring that park and program content 

appears on Women’s History, 19th Amendment, and Travel Where Women 

Made History Subject Sites:

• For general women’s history content, the “women’s history” tag

• For 19th Amendment-specific content, the “19th Amendment” tag (and 

the women’s history tag, so content appears in both areas)

• For women’s suffrage content that is not 19th Amendment specific, the 

“suffrage” tag

• The above tags are for Things to Do section of the Travel Where Women 

Made History subject site; tags for other parts of the site include “women 

and the environment”, “women and migration”, “women and the 

economy”, “women in government”, “women artists”, and “women in 

science”

Tagging news and events “women’s history” and/or “19th Amendment” 

pulled that content into the NPS-wide calendars for news and events.
26

Interpretive Themes, Audiences, and Tips for 

Connection

Region 1 took the lead in creating a Women’s Suffrage Centennial 

Interpretive Theme Matrix. 

Interpretive themes included: 

• Women, Society, and Power (Context) - This theme sets context and 

provides background. It describes the legal status, social forces, political 

circumstances, and personal and group experiences that brought people 

together to fight for women’s suffrage. 

• Suffrage for Women: The 19th Amendment (The Events and the People) 

- This theme considers the major people events, and political social and 

political changes immediately preceding and following of the passage of 

the 19th Amendment. 

• Work to be Done - (Legacy and Continued Struggle for Rights) - This 

theme is about the impact, relevance, and legacy of the early women’s 

rights movement. It describes how the women’s movement continues to 

evolve and inspire passion and commitment from succeeding generations 

who continue to fight for the rights of all people. 

Targeted Audiences included: 

• Students (targeting Grade 11) - Develop soon-to-be voters into informed, 

motivated participants in the U.S electoral system. 

• Life-long Learners - Re-engage citizens on the importance of voting rights 

and increase social awareness and empathy for the health of our society. 

• New Voters/ New Citizens - Provide new voters with background and 

materials on voting rights in the US. 

• National Historic Landmark Partners - Increase the number of National 

Historic Landmarks illustrating the history of the women’s suffrage 

movement including those who fought for it and those who stood against 

it. Reveal little known stories in the fight for equality, and the value of 

voting rights. 

• Academic Researchers and Community Partners - Promote and maintain 

mutually beneficial relationships and open up avenues of communication 

for sharing new research and programming to reach new networks of 

audiences. 
27

Park were provided with many ways to connect to stories of women’s rights, 

reforms, and suffrage. 

• No Obvious Connection to Suffrage? - If on the surface, a park doesn’t 

seem to have an obvious or direct connection to suffrage, dig a little. 

There are probably connections to women’s rights or civil rights stories 

that align with these topics. 

• The Other Half of the Story - Examine the lives, conditions, perspectives, 

and opinions of the women in park stories. Women are more than half 

of the population, so they will be there (promise!), although their stories 

may be hidden or obscured because they have not been included in 

traditional or mainstream narratives. 

• Women’s Perspectives Over Time - After you find the women in the story, 

learn about their experiences and perspectives over time--especially issues 

of class, rights, and suffrage. These perspectives will not be limited to the 

19th or early 20th centuries. That makes these women’s stories important 

components of a larger whole and puts the urgency for civil rights reforms 

and the suffrage movement into context. Every story contributes to the 

bigger picture. 

• Park Founders - Many parks -- including many natural resource parks -- 

were founded, primarily or in part, by women. Did these park founders 

have opinions about suffrage, reforms, or women’s rights? Some of 

the Silent Sentinels who picketed the White House went on to become 

activists in the early preservation movement. Does the park have 

connections to suffrage through the preservation movement? 
28

• Start by Naming Women - The suffrage centennial is an opportunity to 

pull out from the shadows stories of women who have been there all 

along. Start by naming them. Then, be conscious and deliberate about 

how we name them. 

• Do we mention women but refer to them mostly by through their 

relationships to men (calling them wife, mother, daughter, etc.) or do 

we refer to them in their own right and by their own names? 

• Do we refer to a woman primarily by a man’s name or her name? 

For example, Mrs. Madison vs. Dolley Madison or Dolley Payne Todd 

Madison. 

• Begin to notice all the places in exhibits and reports -- especially in NPS 

reports and official documents -- where we refer to women by their 

first names but men by their last. 

• For example, Harriet Tubman becomes “Harriet” while Abraham 

Lincoln is “Lincoln.” “Mamie” vs. General Eisenhower or President 

Eisenhower. 

• If you don’t think this is an issue, try turning the tables. Imagine exhibit 

text written about “Tubman” and “Abe.” Does that sound right? Why 

or why not? 

• For American Indians, do we list English names first or Indian names? 

• Use the suffrage centennial to consider the subtle messages of power 

and personal agency that the Park Service sends or perpetuates 

simply based on how we unconsciously name people. (Discuss among 

yourselves.) 

• Integrate Women’s Stories into the Mainstream - Does the park tell 

women’s stories but segregate them as secondary, as add-ons, or as extras 

to the “main” park story? Are exhibit panels about women physically 

separated from panels about men? It’s true than many, many park 

stories focus on government or the military and those topics have been 

dominated by stories of men. What would happen if we started to find 

ways to physically and programmatically integrate women’s stories and 

experiences into the mainstream rather than relegate them to the fringes 

of exhibits and programming? 
29

Partnerships and Collaboration

Partnerships and collaboration were essential to a successful 

commemoration. Activities required liaising with partners both internal and 

external. 

Internal partnerships crossed the boundaries of directorates, programs, 

parks, and regions. The Interpretation, Education and Volunteer (IE&V) 

directorate and the Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science (CRPS) 

directorate provided essential support. Within the CRPS directorate, nearly 

all programs participated or provided support in some way. The WASO 

Office of Communications, Office of Youth Partnerships, and every region 

carried out essential roles. The NPS Office of Partnerships and Philanthropic 

Stewardship contributed knowledge and expertise throughout the 

commemoration, including being a national contact and thought partner for 

parks, programs, and regional offices considering partnership opportunities; 

working with the National Park Foundation in developing, implementing, 

and awarding Innovation Grants as part of the National Park Foundation’s 

Women in Parks Initiative; working with parks and the National Park 

Foundation to navigate the Virtual Running Club’s 5k Ratification Race; and 

facilitating collaboration with the WSCC for Forward Into Light, podcasts, 

and the essay series, “On Their Shoulders: The Radical Stories of Women’s 

Fight for the Vote,” originally published by the WSCC as a part of the WSCC 

blog, The Suff Buffs. 

In addition to internal channels, the NPS also worked with outside partners 

to connect to the larger centennial planning effort. Government agencies 

and organizations in the Washington, DC area formed a working group early 

on the process to share ideas and collaborate on planning. 

External partners include the National Park Foundation (also see 

Programming), the WSCC, Eastern National/America’s National Parks 

(see Products), Girl Scouts of the USA (see Programming), the National 

Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, and the International 

Coalition of Sites of Conscience. 
30

National Park Foundation 

The National Park Foundation honored the 19th Amendment Centennial 

with a new Women in Parks Grants fund. This fund “supports projects and 

programs that help the National Park Service share a more comprehensive 

and inclusive American narrative that amplifies the voices of women whose 

vision, tenacity, and resilience moved them to climb mountains, take down 

barriers, protect the environment, and lead social movements. The initiative 

will increase awareness about the 19th Amendment’s centennial and raise 

funds for national parks and park programs that highlight stories of women 

who made history and continue to shape our future.” The call received over 

80 applications, requesting more than $1.7million.

The first round of grantmaking from this fund supported 23 projects at 

parks, programs, and regional offices across the country. Project include 

efforts to improve research and interpretation about historical women 

in parks, conserve archival and museum collections, record oral history 

interviews, support women in the contemporary NPS workforce, and much 

more. 

View the full list of projects in Appendix H: National Park Foundation 

Women in Parks Grantees.
31

Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC)

The WSCC partnered with NPS on several initiatives: 

• Forward Into Light. Spearheaded the “Forward Into Light” program, 

which illuminated buildings across the country in suffrage colors of purple 

and gold (see Programming). 

• “Suff Buffs” Blog Series. “Suff Buffs” was a set of articles by subject 

matter experts covering the diversity of the suffrage movement. With the 

closing of the WSCC’s website in the fall of 2020, the NPS took over this 

content and it is now hosted on the women’s history subject site under 

the title “On Their Shoulders: The Radical Stories of Women’s Fight for the 

Vote.” 

• Podcasts. The WSCC served as a partner on the podcast series (And 

Nothing Less, The Magic Sash, and The Agitators) produced by PRX and 

hosted online by the NPS.

• Handbook distribution. In 2020, the WSCC partnered with the American 

Library Association (ALA) to send children’s suffrage history books to 

libraries across the United States, ensuring that the story of women’s fight 

for the vote is accessible to learners and future changemakers in diverse 

communities nationwide. The WSCC selected the National Park Service’s 

19th Amendment suffrage handbook, Women Making History: The 19th 

Amendment, for high school readers, distributing 6000 books.

• Public Art Project: Ripples of Change Statue. The Commission collaborated 

with Women’s Rights National Historical Park on the “Ripples of Change” 

commemorative statue in Seneca Falls, sculpted by Jane DeDecker and 

depicting Laura Cornelius Kellogg, Harriet Tubman, Martha Coffin Wright, 

and Sojourner Truth). The statue is scheduled to be unveiled in September 

2021.

• Public Art Project: Turning Point Suffragist Memorial. The Commission 

partnered with the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association to 

build a national memorial in Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia, 

on part of the historic prison grounds where suffragists went to jail for 

picketing outside the White House in 1917. The Commission contributed 

statues of suffragists Alice Paul, Mary Church Terrell, and Carrie Chapman 

Catt to the memorial, and worked with the Department of the Interior 

and the National Park Service to secure a loan to the memorial of a 

section of the historic White House fence, in front of which suffragists 

picketed in the early 1900s. This section of the historic fence will be 

installed as part of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial, allowing visitors 

to draw inspiration from this authentic piece of suffrage history. 
32

The full report from the WSCC is available here.

National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers 

In 2017, funding from the Northeast Regional Office and WASO CRPS 

enabled assistance through the Cooperative Agreement between the 

National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) and 

the National Park Service. NCSHPO engaged independent contractors to 

write a series of scholarly essays on “Women’s Access to the Vote,” and 

engaged public historian Tamara Gaskell to edit the series. A working subgroup for the essays collaborated with the editor and the scholars. These 

essays were published on the women’s history subject site and most of them 

appear in the Handbook published by Eastern National. As noted above 

under “staffing,” NCSHPO also supported the development of the subject 

site. More information on all these products can be found in the “Products” 

section. 

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, of which many national 

parks are individual members, served as a thought partner at several points 

during the planning and implementation. In October 2019 they facilitated 

early discussion for the guide for interpreters. In January 2020, to mark 

the start of the anniversary year and stimulate thinking about meaningful 

participation, they offered a service-wide webinar, “Making Anniversaries 

Matter.” In September 2020, after the August centennial had passed, 

they facilitated a discussion with a sub-group of the national working 

group, “Keeping the Momentum: Centering Women’s Stories.” Members 

of the working group have elected to maintain the national working 

group and meet every month to share information, discuss issues, and 

ensure that Women’s History remains a focus during the 250th anniversary 

commemoration and in NPS interpretation in general.

Thanking Participants

An essential component to the implementation of any major project is to 
33

thank participants. Awards are important but so are statements and gestures 

from leadership. 

Message from the National Coordinator to the Working Group, August 28, 

2020

This past Wednesday, August 26, 2020 was the centennial of the 19th Amendment to the 

US Constitution being signed into law. You’re receiving this email because in some way, you 

helped make the NPS commemoration of the centennial a success. (Your colleagues told me 

so! That said, I know there is no way I have everyone’s email. Please share and forward to your 

colleagues who have been involved in any capacity). 

Thank you, to each and every one of you, who worked towards commemorating this milestone 

in US history. For sharing the stories of those who continued to be excluded from the ballot for 

reasons other than their sex (gender) and their ongoing battle for suffrage and civil rights. For 

finding and sharing stories of women with connections to your parks and programs on NPS.

gov, across social media, and in person. For doing the research. For exploring the complexities 

of people and history. For figuring out the technical issues of hosting virtual conferences and of 

lighting up structures. And for all the other thousands of things. 

I know for a lot of us, COVID impacted our plans for the commemoration. My hat off to you 

all for pivoting and innovating and stretching yourselves to find other ways to do this work. 

Parks and regions have collaborated across administrative boundaries; people have been 

brought together virtually in ways that would have been impossible in person; parks and 

programs strengthened relationships with their partners; parks and programs navigated virtual 

internships; and some incredibly wonderful digital media has been produced and shared with 

the world. 

Our niche in the nation-wide commemoration of the 19th Amendment has been that, through 

our parks and programs, we have the places in every county across the US and its territories and 

possessions where these histories happened. We tell all Americans’ stories by leveraging the 

power of place, connecting them to our national history. And together, we knocked it out of 

the park for the 19th Amendment Commemoration. 

Thank you. Now that we’re on the other side of the Centennial, I hope that you continue to find 

and share these stories, to collaborate with each other, and to inspire each other. 

Thank you again. I am so proud of what we have all accomplished together. 

Megan.

Megan Springate, PhD

Interpretation Coordinator

Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education

National Coordinator

NPS 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration (#NPS19th)

Challenge Coins

Inspired by challenge coins given out to commemorate events and group 
34

membership, and in partnership with both the Interpretation, Education, 

and Volunteers and Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science 

directorates, NPS 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration challenge 

coins were acquired. The design, featuring an NPS arrowhead on one side 

and a “Votes for Women” banner on the other, was created by artists at 

Harpers Ferry Center. Three thousand challenge coins were ordered and 

distributed to NPS staff, interns, and volunteers as well as close NPS partners 

who participated in the Commemoration. These challenge coins were 

designed to recognize those who helped make the NPS 19th Amendment 

Centennial commemoration a success; they were not intended for public 

distribution. Two of the challenge coins were also sent to the NPS museum 

collections at Harpers Ferry Center. 
35

The global Covid-19 pandemic caused a transition to remote work and park 

closures starting in March 2020 and upended much of the careful planning 

parks and programs had been doing to prepare for the 19th Amendment 

Centennial Commemoration. 

The pandemic complicated commemoration efforts and overshadowed 

public attention to the suffrage centennial. Long-planned events were 

canceled, physical exhibits closed, and many NPS staff teleworked. Parks 

and programs undertook heroic and often very successful efforts to move 

planned programming online and develop creative ways to reach the public. 

While some units may have lost potential local audiences for suffrage 

programming because of the closures, they may also have reached more 

widely dispersed publics with digital content. In some cases, the pandemic 

created time and space for projects that otherwise would not have 

happened. While the disruption caused by the pandemic will ultimately 

end, it has raised important questions for the NPS about the role of digital 

interpretation in parks (and the effort required to create successful digital 

projects) as well as the potential for digital materials to make parks and 

programs more accessible for visitors. 

In general, parks and programs reported a reduction in what they were able 

to do. Some parks experienced delays in getting planned physical displays 

done, while others reported that they had completed displays that were 

then rendered inaccessible to visitors inside closed buildings. Parks with 

research projects planned, such as Death Valley National Park, had to set 

new objectives for their work after the indefinite closure of many libraries 

and archives. The rollout of Girl Scout 19th Amendment program was 

delayed as the transition was made to virtual alternatives. As a result, the 

program was extended through March 31, 2021. 

RESPONDING TO THE COVID-19 GLOBAL PANDEMIC
36

There were changes and cancellations of summer 2020 commemoration 

events, but where possible, planned in-person programs were moved 

online. For example, Women’s Rights National Historical Park held its annual 

signature event of Convention Days virtually. From July 17-19, 2020 the park 

offered a series of online programs for visitors via the park’s social media 

platforms. The theme was “Legacies of Our Foremothers.” Virtual visitors 

had the opportunity to participate in online dialogue and live question-andanswer discussions about the impact historical figures continue to have on 

women’s rights today. 

However, in a few instances, pandemic conditions gave rise to new projects 

that would not have been undertaken otherwise. New Bedford Whaling 

National Historical Park, for example, reported a collaboration between the 

organization Pride Outside and the NPS LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group 

on “Marie Equi’s New Bedford,” telling the story of how this pioneering 

doctor and activist was shaped by her hometown and her experience as 

an out lesbian in the early 1900s. The entire project was born out of the 

Covid-19 pandemic. 

With many NPS staff transitioning to telework, including those normally 

in the field doing public interpretation, there was an opportunity for staff 

to engage with the commemoration and to do the research needed to tell 

these stories from the parks and there was a great increase in born-digital 

content and programming. This experience highlights the fact that staff time 

to do research and to create interpretive programming results in valuable 

products. 

Several parks reported that they planned to reschedule 19th Amendment 

programming for the 101st anniversary of the 19th Amendment in 2021. 

However, Women’s Rights National Historical Park (NHP) offered Virtual 

Convention Days 2021: “From the Pages to the Streets,” as a series of online 

programs July 16-18, 2021, due to Covid-19.
37

Handbook 

Women Making History: The 19th Amendment 

(Women Making History: The 19th Amendment 

Book - Shop Americas National Parks) is the official 

Handbook for the centennial. It is an edited version 

of the essays commissioned as core content for the 

Women’s History subject site. The printed book 

differs from the online content with the addition of 

“sidebars” of specific histories, an extended timeline 

of suffrage from the 1600s through 2016, a collection 

of associated parks, and additional graphics. The 

essay on the international history of woman’s 

suffrage and its connection to the American woman’s 

suffrage movement was excluded from the Handbook 

due to space limitations by the publisher. The book 

was designed and printed by Eastern National / Americas National Parks. The 

WSCC purchased and distributed 6,000 copies of the Handbook to libraries 

across the country, selected in collaboration with the Institute of Museum 

and Library Services for high school readers. 

Eastern National Products 

A wide assortment of educational commemorative products for the 

Commemoration was designed by Eastern National/Americas National 

Parks and made available for parks across the NPS to carry in their stores 

– including those shops operated by cooperating associations other than 

Eastern National. In addition to designing educational products, Eastern 

National/Americas National Parks also selected suitable products from others 

to make available. The sell-sheet of products available via Eastern National 

for the 19th Amendment Centennial is in Appendix I: Eastern National 

Product List. 

PRODUCTS 
38

Digital Content 

The 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration had a strong digital 

presence. The Covid-19 pandemic only increased the amount of material 

available in a digital format. 

Women’s History Subject Site 

The hub for suffrage information is the women’s history subject site, 

available at nps.gov/subjects/womenshistory. The site collects women’s 

stories across parks, programs, and historic places listed in the National 

Register of Historic Places sites. A “19th Amendment” subsection functions 

as a hub for suffrage content. NPS staff and partners authored suffragerelated material, including biographies of suffragists, descriptions of NPS 

places with suffrage or women’s history ties, and thematic articles. There is 

also fun content for children, including Suffrage Cat coloring sheet, which 

became fun for adults as well as kids.

The women’s history site relies heavily on the shared content feature within 

NPS.gov, as noted above under Digital Strategy. As part of the effort to 

encourage shared content, a considerable amount of existing material was 

migrated from park-specific content into shared content and from older 

HTML pages. There was a marked increase in shared content elements 

tagged with “women’s history” on NPS.gov: In October 2018, there were 

269 elements (of 6,916 people, places, articles, for a total of 3.9%) tagged; 

in Feb 2021, there were 716 (of 15,946 people, places, and articles, for a 

total of 4.5%). Not only did the raw number of elements tagged women’s 

history increase by more than 2.5 times, but the ratio of women’s history 

elements also overall increased even as the number of digital assets more 

than doubled overall. 

Suffrage-related content attracted tens of thousands of pageviews to the 

women’s history subject site and NPS.gov shared content. Based on pageview 

data, web visitors were particularly interested in state ratification timelines, 

African American suffragists, and the overall story of suffrage before and 

after the 19th Amendment.
39

Digital Content Highlights 

Some of the initial content for the new Women’s History subject site 

launched in August 2018 included the 19th Amendment by State, and a 

Storymap that highlights a historic place associated with suffrage in every 

state. The digital content for both the 19th Amendment section of the 

site and the subject site overall has grown extensively, creating a firm 

foundation for the representation of women’s history across the NPS.gov 

digital landscape.

Suffrage in America: The 15th and 19th Amendments

Suffrage in America is a seven-part series which explores the connections 

between two Constitutional amendments meant to expand voting rights. 

Ratified in 1870, the 15th Amendment recognized the voting rights of 

African American men. Fifty years later, Congress and the states ratified the 

19th Amendment.

Essays: Women’s Access to the Vote 

The National Park Service and the National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers commissioned a series of essays by scholars of the 

suffrage movement on the “19th Amendment and Women’s Access to the 

Vote Across America.” Public historian Tamara Gaskell served as series editor. 

The series examines the history of woman suffrage across the United States, 

including early adopters, international influences, anti-suffragists, depiction 

in popular culture, and lasting influence. These essays also served as the 

foundation for the Handbook. 

20 Suffragists to Know for 2020 

“20 Suffragists to Know for 2020,” was one of the earliest team projects and 

an example of collaboration that helped the Working Group successfully 

function as a team. Learn more in the section on the National Working 

Group and Sub-Groups above. The feature also inspired a set of posters (see 

Appendix J: Suffrage Posters and Poster Maker). More information on the 20 

for 2020 feature available in Appendix K: 20 Suffragists to Know for 2020.
40

Race to Ratification 

The subject site featured the Race to Ratification to allow visitors to follow 

the race to ratify the 19th Amendment in real time. Beginning in May 2019, 

100 years after the House of Representatives approved the text of the 19th 

Amendment, the page recorded each step made toward (or away from) 

ratification on its 100th anniversary, along with details about each state’s 

ratification (or rejection) story. 

Travel Where Women Made History 

Along with the women’s history subject site, the NCSHPO independent 

contractor developed a companion site, “Travel Where Women Made 

History.” The travel site further focuses on the strength of the NPS and the 

factor that distinguished the agency among the many organizations involved 

in commemorating the 19th Amendment: stewardship of places. It compiles 

parks and historic places listed in the National Register of Historic Places that 

feature women’s stories. 

Explore Suffragist Stories and Connections

“Explore Suffragist Stories and Connections” is an interactive mapping 

project that allows users to view connections between suffrage activists, 

explore the historic sites that were significant to securing the vote, and 

link to scanned letters and archives. The content and structure encourage 

research into connections among suffragists and how these interlocking 

social networks worked to push the suffrage movement forward. The map 

shows connections between suffrage activists and places important to them 

which are now preserved as National Parks, Historic Landmarks, Monuments, 

and other sites on the National Register of Historic Places. Partners 

producing this product include NPS, particularly Region 1; the National Park 

Foundation; Towson University; the Schlesinger Library; and ESRI. See also 

NPS Suffrage Orientation - YouTube. 
41

Podcasts 

In partnership with NPS and WSCC, Public Radio Exchange (PRX) presented 

three podcasts that explore the history of the suffrage movement in 

different ways. All three are hosted on NPS.gov and include NPS companion 

content including formal lesson plans for “The Magic Sash” and curated links 

to related listener companion material elsewhere on NPS.gov. 

And Nothing Less

And Nothing Less is a podcast for teens and adults that explores the 

meaning of the suffragist slogan: “Men their rights and nothing more; 

women their rights and nothing less.” Though these words were written by 

movement leaders Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the 

suffrage movement included far more voices and perspectives than these 

two well-known names. Throughout the fight for women’s right to vote, 

generations of diverse activists demanded full access to the ballot box. This 

seven-part series was hosted by actors Rosario Dawson and Retta and 

featured interviews with scholars like Martha Jones, Elaine Weiss, and Allison 

Lange. As of October 29, 2020, “And Nothing Less” had totaled over 200,000 

downloads. The show saw over 81,000 unique listeners during the 

Centennial month of August; six weeks after the last episode dropped, there 

were around 1000 unique listeners tuning into the show. Listeners hailed 

from all 50 states and more than 70 countries. The first episode, “The Cult of 

True Womanhood,” was the most listened to of all, with 74,466 downloads 

as of October 29, 2020. 
42

The Magic Sash 

The Magic Sash is a podcast for kids 9 to 13 years old. It presents a journey 

through time that follows two modern fifth graders named Lotty and Isaiah 

as a magical suffrage sash takes them through some of the more iconic 

moments in suffrage history. This seven-part series was hosted by Olympic 

gymnast Aly Raisman and accompanied by lesson plans for each episode. As 

of October 29, 2020, “The Magic Sash” had totaled 11,326 downloads. The 

show saw nearly 2500 unique listeners during August. The first episode, “The 

Sash,” was the most listened to of all, with 2,822 downloads as of October 

29, 2020. As part of the publicity for “The Magic Sash,” PRX partnered with 

KIDS FIRST!, a non-profit organization with youth reporters reviewing media 

rated PG-13 or younger. Reviewers Cadence G. and Kyla C. recorded video 

reviews of “The Magic Sash.” 
43

The Agitators 

The Agitators is a podcast version of a play by Mat Smart, tracing the 

complex friendship of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass over several 

decades. The WSCC had originally planned to fund the licensing fees for 

several schools and other organizations to perform The Agitators. However, 

Covid meant that in-person performances were not possible. Instead, the 

WSCC put funds towards creating a podcast from the play. 
44

Additional Regional and Park Digital Content

A sampling of regional and park digital content follows:

• In Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12, a cooperating agreement with the University of 

California, Davis produced a series of 55 biographies of women associated 

with parks in the Pacific West. Biographies included stories of historic and 

contemporary women like Native American activist LaNada War Jack, 

African American clubwoman and community leader Julia Ann Shelton 

Shorey, World War II shipyard worker Katherine Ah Lan Lowe, and 

outdoor recreation advocate Caro Luevanos-Garcia. 

• The Natural Resources Stewardship and Science directorate created 

National Park Service Scientists Reflect on Value of STEM Leadership for 

Girls, Young Women (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) 

• Women of the NPS (Women of the NPS - Women’s History (U.S. National 

Park Service)) was begun by Region 1 staff and leveraged to include 

national content on the Women’s History subject site 

• Several NPS units created landing pages on their park websites, presenting 

women’s history (including 19th Amendment) connected with their 

unit. Examples include Boston: A Suffrage “Hub” (https://www.nps.

gov/bost/learn/historyculture/suffrage2020.htm); Women’s Activism in 

Lowell (Women’s Activism in Lowell - Lowell National Historical Park (U.S. 

National Park Service) (nps.gov)); Women Homesteaders and Suffrage 

(homesteading and suffrage - Homestead National Historical Park (U.S. 

National Park Service) (nps.gov)); and Women of the Gold Rush (Women 

of the Gold Rush - Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (U.S. 

National Park Service) (nps.gov)). 

• Regions and programs also created curated collections of information 

such as “Women Across Alaska” for their subject site, Women Making 

History in Alaska Parks. 

• The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) 

created a podcast, “Celebrating the 19th Amendment with Stories from 

the Lucy Burns Museum”(https://ncptt.nps.gov/blog/celebrating-the-19thamendment-with-stories-from-the-lucy-burns-museum/).

• Two Mellon Fellows (see the section on “staffing” above) collaborated 

to create a podcast. “Ballot Blocked” (Ballot Blocked - Labor History (U.S. 

National Park Service) (nps.gov) is a six-part series exploring the uneven 

and fitful course of suffrage from the period of the Civil War to the 

present-day. 
45

Programming for the Commemoration took place at various scales. In 

creating nation-wide programming and resources, the goal was to invite 

parks, programs, and partners to take part and to create an environment 

where any level of participation was encouraged. This meant creating graband-go options like the posters and poster maker graphics produced by 

Harpers Ferry Center, re-working existing programs like the Girl Scout Ranger 

program to commemorate the 19th Amendment Centennial, and providing 

clear guidance and several ways to take part, such as with the Forward Into 

Light campaign. 

Guidance for participation provided by the national office was purposefully 

broad, encouraging parks, programs, and partners to be creative and 

engage in whatever way made sense given their associated histories, 

resource availability, and capacity. From the beginning, the commemoration 

was designed to engage across the NPS, including national and regional 

programs and partners, as well as those parks not generally considered to be 

“women’s history” or even “cultural resources” parks. The 19th Amendment 

has a nation-wide history and nation-wide impact, and women’s histories 

and civics are present in every park, program, and community across the 

country. The Cultural Resources GIS (CRGIS) created a Story Map highlighting 

NPS participation in the 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration. 

A version of the Story Map is available here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/

stories/eeb5fd7be71f4122a674c99dcf002d31

National Programming

Several programs of the Commemoration were implemented at a national 

level. Two were announced with service-wide memos from the NPS Director’s 

Office. On July 7, 2020 the Director announced approval and encouragement 

for staff to wear the Jailed for Freedom pin on their uniform during August 

2020. On July 27, 2020 the Director encouraged parks and programs to take 

part in Forward Into Light (see Appendix A: Director’s Memos). These and 

other national-level programs and service-wide resources are summarized 

here. 

PROGRAMMING 
46

“Jailed for Freedom” Pin 

The NPS Director approved the wearing of a new uniform 

item from August 1-31, 2020 to commemorate the 

Centennial. The “Jailed for Freedom” Suffrage Pin copies the 

design of an original pin awarded by the National Woman’s 

Party to suffragists who served a jail sentence after protests 

at the White House from 1917-1919. The pins were shaped 

like a jail cell door with a heart-shaped padlock. The image is 

the recreation pin design. See Appendix A: Director’s Memos

for the story of the Jailed for Freedom pin.

Forward Into Light 

A program of the WSCC, named in honor of the historic suffrage slogan, 

“Forward through the Darkness, Forward into Light,” the “Forward Into 

Light” initiative illuminated buildings across America in the suffrage colors 

of purple and gold. Purple signifies unswerving steadfastness to the cause, 

while gold signifies the flame of the torch leading the way. “Forward into 

light!” was a popular rallying cry among suffragists most associated with 

Inez Milholland, who carried it on a banner at the New York City suffrage 

parade in 1911. The NPS worked closely with the WSCC to participate 

in Forward Into Light, including issuing a Director’s Memo and detailed 

guidance on participation. At least 118 NPS parks and programs participated 

on August 26, 2020, either by illuminating physical structures or landscapes 

or by using a custom social media filter. Examples follow.
47

John Muir National Historic Site

Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks 
48

President’s Park (White House)

Chamizal National Memorial (with custom 

filer for social media)
49

Posters and Poster Maker 

Inspired by the 20 for 2020 suffragists project, designers at Harpers Ferry 

Center created a set of 20 posters. They were designed to engage viewers 

and inspire conversation and a desire to learn more. These posters (see 

Appendix J: Suffrage Posters and Poster Maker) were made available for 

parks to download and print but were also printed via the Government 

Printing Office in an 11 x 22 inch size. These large, printed posters were 

available at no cost (plus a small shipping and handling fee) to NPS parks 

and programs via the National Service Gear website, operated by the 

Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The poster series won first 

place from the National Association of Government Communicators in their 

2021 Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Awards. 

Designers at the Harpers Ferry Center also created a tool that parks and 

programs could use to create their own posters featuring historic women. 

Essentially a digital “paper doll” program, creators would select features 

from a catalog of options and then input accompanying text. The output 

was a poster featuring an illustrative likeness of the person and information 

about them. For an example, see Appendix J. 

Girl Scouts of the United States of America 

Leveraging the existing relationship with 

the Girl Scouts of the USA and the Girl Scout 

Ranger Program, the WASO Youth Programs 

Division and members of the Working Group 

created programming for the Commemoration. 

With support from the Office of Partnerships 

and Philanthropic Stewardship, a limitededition patch was created, and suggested activities were prepared. When 

the Covid-19 pandemic required a pivot in the programming, efforts 

were made to adapt the program to a virtual one. This included making a 

virtual certificate of completion available for Girl Scouts, and for parks and 

programs with the capacity to offer to mail out patches to Girl Scout troop 

leaders for those who participated – even when it was not at their own park. 

Some parks and programs, including WORI, NCPTT, and others offered virtual 

programming to Girl Scouts to meet their requirements.
50

Because of the effects of Covid-19 on park 

operations across the service, the 19th 

Amendment Girl Scout Ranger Patch 

Program was extended through March of 

2021. WASO Youth Programs funded 

approximately 25,000 patches, which were 

made available free of charge (plus a small 

shipping and handling fee) via the NPS 

Service Gear webstore, operated by the 

Institute for the Blind and Visually 

Impaired. All of these patches had been 

distributed by January 2021. If necessary, 

parks and programs could order custom 

quantities and pay with park/regional 

funds. Materials developed for the program include an activity guide and 

activity log, a certificate, and an introductory video. The activity guide and 

additional information on the Girl Scouts 19th Amendment Patch Program 

are available in Appendix L: Girl Scouts 19th Amendment Patch Program 

Materials. 

Girl Scouts from across the country and even internationally participated in 

the program. Troop leader Bethany Ore reported from Peru: “Our Girl Scouts 

really enjoyed it! We learned about what it means to vote, about the 19th 

Amendment, and about Seneca Falls. We even tied a little world history into 

our meeting and talked about what it meant to vote in England and Peru 

and when women from those countries finally had the right to vote (we 

have girls from the USA, Peru, and England). Even some parents shared their 

experiences. I am attaching a picture [image above] of some of our girls that 

participated and their Suffrage Cats that they made for you. In total we had 

10 girls participate virtually and earn their 19th Amendment Badge!” 
51

Ratification Virtual Race 

The National Park Foundation and Women’s 

Rights National Historical Park partnered on 

the “Race to Ratification,” offered through the 

Virtual Running Club which organizes “virtual” 

races on an honor-based, self-report system 

that are organized digitally but occur physically 

at the convenience of the runner (https://www.

virtualrunningclub.com/events/ratification/). 

A portion of registration fees were donated 

to the NPF Women in Parks initiative. Image 

shows details of the Finisher Medal.

Signature Parks 

While every park and program has connections to women’s history, and 

therefore to the 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration, two sites 

within the National Park System were recognized as signature parks. 

Women’s Rights National Historical Park (WORI) in Seneca Falls, New York 

is associated with the First Women’s Rights Convention in the United States 

in July 1848. Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument (BEPA) in 

Washington, DC, is associated with the National Woman’s Party. The NWP 

was a key player in making the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution 

possible, and leaders in drafting the Equal Rights Amendment. 

National planning efforts relied on these parks’ knowledge and expertise for 

resources, content, ideas, and editing. Staff from these parks were leaders 

in centennial planning and created extensive programming for it. Although 

the pandemic meant that many events had to be reimagined, WORI and 

BEPA park staff worked hard and got creative to move programs online and 

develop new offerings during the pandemic. 

Below are only a few of many highlights from these parks’ activities. Full 

reports are available in the appendices. See Appendix M for BEPA and 

Appendix N for WORI. 
52

Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument 

Belmont-Paul sponsored an in-person Race to 

Ratification 5k fun run in June of 2019, held at 

Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. The 

time between states ratifying was used to calculate 

distance between signs marking the ratification 

process, so that runners passed a flurry of signs at 

the beginning of the race as states rushed to ratify 

the amendment, but then by the end of the race, 

went much further distances between the votes to ratify. 

The park collaborated with other parks and programs to create a 19-part 

series of 1-minute videos for social media called “Suffrage in 60 Seconds,” 

covering people (like suffragists Ida B. Wells and Inez Milholland); themes 

(like Black women in the suffrage movement and suffrage in the West); 

and symbols of the movement (like suffrage colors and the Jail Door pin). 

The series was honored with the regional NPS Freeman Tilden Award, 

recognizing exceptional interpretive products.
53

Events included: 

• Virtual program with author Elaine Weiss 

• Virtual program with historian Ellen Carol DuBois 

• Living history program with Dr. Leslie Goddard portraying Alice Paul 

• Arts programs, including original poetry work “Shout!” by Susanna Rich, 

and performance of selections form original song cycle “The ERA Project” 

by Maureen Broy Papovich 

Ranger Susan Philpott developed a facilitated dialogue on “Women’s 

Suffrage in Black and White” for the Commemoration. At their meeting on 

June 3, 2019, she used that program to engage members of the WSCC in 

meaningful discussion about suffragists and racism. 

The entire BEPA report is available in Appendix M: BEPA 19th Amendment 

Report.

Women’s Rights National Historical Park 

Women’s Rights National Historical Park worked with community partners, 

other NPS parks and programs, and cultural institutions from across the 

country to commemorate 100 years of suffrage. Full details are available in 

WORI’s centennial report in Appendix N: WORI 19th Amendment Report. 

The park:

• created special centennial graphics, 

• engaged partners in the local community, across the NPS, and nationally, 

• sponsored dozens of physical and virtual events and programs, 

• hosted several interns and fellows, 

• gave presentations at conferences, at libraries, on podcasts, 

• created materials for and supported national programs, including the 19th 

Amendment Girl Scout Ranger patch and the Junior Rangers program, 

• created new shared digital content and educational content, 

• fielded a high number of media requests related to the 19th Amendment 

Centennial Commemoration, and 

• engaged thousands of new visitors via social media content. 
54

A temporary exhibit about Sojourner 

Truth displayed in Summer 2019. Photo 

courtesy Women’s Rights National 

Historical Park. 

WORI’s programming highlighted the diverse nature of suffrage activism and 

the difficult story of racism in the movement. The park sponsored programs 

and exhibits about Black suffragists like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, 

and Fannie Barrier Williams, and about the Haudenosaunee influence on the 

movement. A program given in February 2020 at WORI on Elizabeth Cady 

Stanton’s racism by historian Dr. Laura Free was recorded and broadcast by 

CSPAN. 

Dr. Laura Free delivers a program entitled 

“Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Racist?” at 

WORI’s Guntzel Theater in February 2020. 

The program was broadcast on CSPAN. 
55

The park’s annual signature event, Convention Days, was held virtually from 

July 17-19, 2020. Focused on the theme, “Legacies of Our Foremothers,” 

the park offered a series of online programs for visitors via the park’s social 

media platforms. Virtual visitors participated in online dialogue and live 

question-and-answer discussions about the impact historical figures continue 

to have on women’s rights today. 

Region, Park, and Program Activities 

In addition to the nationally coordinated programs, regional offices, 

programs, and individual parks developed their own programs and activities 

for the Commemoration. 

While BEPA’s and WORI’s efforts were the cornerstone of the NPS centennial, 

participation was broad throughout the system. At least 300 NPS units 

participated, as well as 15 National Historic Trails, 6 National Scenic Trails, 

10 partner organizations, 29 programs, and 7 regional offices. Participants 

self-reported their participation and their Facebook accounts were 

surveyed between August and November 2020 for relevant posts. Types of 

participation included participating in an NPS-wide program like Forward 

Into Light or the Girl Scout Ranger program; sharing suffrage or women’s 

history on social media; creating programming or exhibitions to observe 

the anniversary; and highlighting contemporary women working involved 

with the park or program, including staff, volunteers, and interns. Selected 

regional and park permanent digital content is included above under 

“Digital Highlights.” 

Social Media 

Selected examples of social media are below. 
56

This creative in-person program from Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP 

invited participants to vote for or against the 19th Amendment (one hopes 

that no one voted against!). 
57

This social media posts highlighted the female paleontologists who have 

worked in Badlands National Park and called attention to barriers women in 

science have faced. This is an example of participation by a “Natural 

Resource” park that might not have a direct connection to the suffrage 

movement, but that used it as a chance to highlight women’s stories. 
58

Like many others, Boston National Historical Park responded to the Covid-19 

pandemic with a Zoom program, inviting visitors to join virtually as park 

staff recreated a historic suffrage meeting at Faneuil Hall. 
59

Some parks made creative connections between the suffrage anniversary 

and the natural world, as with El Morro National Monument’s post about 

the formidable female tarantula hawk (the New Mexico state insect). 
60

This post from Joshua Tree National Park shines a spotlight on Minerva Hoyt, 

a conservationist whose efforts led to the creation of the park.
61

A post from Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway, AK 

highlights the territory’s suffrage history and sheds light on those who were 

excluded from the vote. Parks frequently shared stories from their state’s or 

territory’s suffrage history during the commemoration. 
62

Minute Man National Historical Park highlights the role of women in politics 

during the Revolutionary period. Many parks without an explicit connection 

to suffrage used the anniversary to highlight other topics in women’s history. 
63

This post from Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail honors the work 

of Black women in the suffrage movement and connects their efforts to the 

Civil Rights Movement and to present-day struggles for the vote. 
64

A feature from Weir Farm National Historic Site on the “Women of Weir 

Farm.” Some parks and programs chose to highlight the stories of women 

who were directly connected to the park or site’s history. 
65

A few other examples included:

• Boston National Historical Park & Boston African American National 

Historic Site: #SuffrageSaturday Instagram series

• Castillo de San Marcos National Monument: “#HerstoryStAugustine” 

Instagram series 

• Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Site: “Proprietress, Patriot, 

Nurse, & Spy” Facebook virtual ranger program series

• Fort Scott National Historic Site: Facebook posts commemorated the 101st 

anniversary of Kansas ratifying the 19th Amendment (June 16, 2020) 

• Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area “#100Years100Days100Facts” 

Instagram series 

• Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site: Facebook 

video series “Mrs. Bethune’s Washington” Virtual Bus Tour 
66

This Commemoration built on the lessons learned from previous 

commemorations and initiatives and it is hoped that future commemorations 

will learn from this one as well. The clear connection to Civil Rights history 

established in the Vision Statement is rooted in earlier and ongoing NPS 

efforts to tell all Americans’ stories. The Civil Rights Framework, Civil Rights 

in America: A Framework for Identifying Significant Sites (completed in 

2002, revised 2008), provided a catalyst for four Heritage Initiatives, among 

them the Women’s History initiative that was launched in May 2012. The 

Civil War to Civil Rights Commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the 

Civil War and the ongoing struggle for civil rights was also forward looking. 

That commemoration inspired concrete next steps, including the servicewide community of practice named “Arc to Equality.” This service-wide 

community was established in 2015. Among its goals were the increase 

of collaborative practice and the telling of more diverse and complete 

history. Both of those can be found in the 19th Amendment Centennial 

Commemoration goals as well. One of the lessons retained from NPS 

Centennial in 2016 is the value and impact of staff participating in wide 

variety of ways with varying levels of capacity and resources. That guiding 

principle helped to create wide interest and extraordinary participation. 

LESSONS LEARNED AND LOOKING FORWARD
67

Lessons Learned

This Commemoration offers widely relevant lessons applicable to a Servicewide commemoration of national significance. These lessons fall into the 

categories of Content and Process. 

Content: 

• Remain true to the historical facts and share as complete a story as 

possible. Deepen and expand knowledge and understanding about the 

past. 

• It was important to the Working Group that the 19th Amendment 

Centennial moved beyond superficial celebration to deepen 

understanding through a more complex commemoration that told both 

positive and negative truths.

• Recognize that history has consequences and legacies that we live with 

today. The past isn’t dead. 

• Women’s struggles for suffrage included fighting racism, among other 

things, but those rifts are not healed.

• Recognize that people have different perceptions about the past and its 

meanings, and different experiences of the way it reverberates. Therefore, 

recognize that connecting the past to the present may create conflict. 

• There will be some resistance to unfamiliar or unwelcome truths both 

among staff and among the public. The development of an interpretive 

guide for Women’s History recognizes that interpreters can help each 

other anticipate and respond to the public appropriately.

• Connect the story with specific places. Telling a nationally significant story 

requires local places and offers a chance to share lesser-known places with 

a larger audience. 

• The NPS strength is place-based. In addition to park units and partners, 

programs like the National Heritage Areas, Heritage Documentation 

Programs (HABS/HAER/HALS), the National Register of Historic Places, 

National Landmarks Program, Certified Local Governments, Historic 

Preservation Fund Grants and others represent places and provide NPS 

connections in every county in every state. Such reach gives NPS the 

opportunity to tell a truly national story built from local histories in places 

across the nation. 
68

Process 

Start early! 

An early start in January 2017 -- more than three years before the centennial 

date of August 2020 -- provided the opportunity to build knowledge about 

the commemoration across the NPS and with partners, to research and 

create resources, and to be thoughtful about the goals, strategies, and 

rollout both across the NPS and to the public, to respond to feedback and 

changing circumstances, and to incorporate multiple voices. 

Provide resources early, including funding and staffing support. 

While the 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration did not receive 

substantial funding, it was essential to secure funding early for developing 

the websites and their content and to support short-term staff, including 

Fellows and interns. 

Support innovation with permission, funding, and acknowledgement. 

• The small innovation grants from the Women in Parks NPF initiative 

were remarkably successful in stimulating nimbleness and innovation. 

The call received over 80 applications, requesting more than $1.7million, 

demonstrating a need for funding opportunities outside of the years-out 

internal PMIS funding process. 

• Encourage staff learning and creativity. Provide plenty of time to prepare. 

• Acknowledge and thank: there is little that is more appreciated than a 

heartfelt “thank you.” 

Plan with the future beyond the anniversary in mind. 

Particularly with digital content, plan for evergreen content and ease of 

online maintenance. Design and build content and products for ongoing 

relevance.

Communicate often and in varying formats. 

There is no single way to ensure communication across the NPS so use every 

format available and use it often. 
69

Provide leadership but make room for everyone. 

• Provide leadership and coordination from central offices. The Acting 

Director’s memo of November 4, 2019 made it clear that all parks had 

some relationship to the centennial’s themes and should work to find the 

best way to participate. Messages like this resonate with the field and 

empower staff to use park resources for participation.

• Let everyone have a voice and encourage leadership throughout the 

Service. Ensure inclusion of all the NPS: parks, programs, and partners 

(including cooperating associations, National Heritage Areas, etc.) and of 

staff at every level, from interns to senior management. Be expansive in 

inclusion and remember to invite natural resource staff to participate in 

cultural commemorations. 

• Create opportunities for collaborative leadership: Encourage parks, 

programs, and regions to collaborate across boundaries. 

Make it easy. 

A “low bar” for recognized participation in the commemoration led to 

increased participation. When parks/programs/partners did one thing 

associated with the commemoration, they most likely did more. 

Make it meaningful. 

Give parks, programs, and partners the ability to connect in ways meaningful 

for them. Give wide lanes for participation. 

Be flexible. 

Create a logical overarching structure but encourage flexibility within it 

by building in space for reflection and feedback. Flexibility allowed for an 

effective pivot during the pandemic shutdown. 
70

Looking Forward

When we commemorate anniversaries, we mark something important in 

the past as something worth remembering and learning from. A nationally 

significant anniversary helps us to identify what is important to us as a 

society. The lessons we look for are drawn from the needs of our time. 

The needs of our time demand that we learn from the past as we face an 

uncertain future. Learning from a partial past, or half of our history, won’t 

serve us well. Women’s history is American history and we need the full story 

to guide us. 

We can look forward not only to future commemorations but also to the 

work of NPS applied research, preservation, and storytelling every day. We 

can draw on the Commemoration’s interpretive framework for inspiration. 

As NPS looks forward, we can: 

• Include the Other Half of the Story. Women are not optional or extra. Pull 

out from the shadows stories of women who have been there all along. 

• Integrate Women’s Stories into the Mainstream. Does the park tell 

women’s stories but segregates them as secondary, as add-ons, or as extras 

to the “main” park story? Are exhibit panels about women physically 

separated from panels about men? 

The National Park Service can find ways to physically and programmatically 

integrate women’s stories and experiences into the mainstream rather than 

relegate them to the fringes of exhibits and programming. We can include 

women in the mainstream narratives to tell a complete story.
71

A. Director’s Memos

B. 19th Amendment Working Group Members and Subcommittees

C. Internships

D. 19th Amendment IE&V Newsletter Edition

E. Internal Sharepoint Site Material

F. Service-wide Webinars

G. 2019 All Region Kick-Off Meeting Materials and Attendees

H. National Park Foundation Women in Parks Grantees

I. Eastern National Product List

J. Suffrage Posters and Poster Maker

K. 20 Suffragists to Know for 2020

L. Girl Scouts 19th Amendment Patch Program Material

M. Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument Report 

N. Women’s Rights National Historical Park Report

O. Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC) Report

Suggested citation: 

Springate, Megan, Ella Wagner, and Barbara Little. Women’s Voices, 

Women’s Votes: The National Park Service Commemoration of the 19th 

Amendment Centennial. Washington, DC: National Park Service, 2022.

Appendices List