Show highlights California, Bay Area women who crusaded for the right to vote
By Linda Zavoral / The Mercury News
We all know the names of the women who led the national movement for women’s suffrage.
But what about the crusade in California, where women gained the right to vote in 1911, nine years before the 19th Amendment was ratified?
“Rise Up! The Fight for Women’s Suffrage” aims to project a spotlight on these women too. A small version of the huge exhibit the Los Altos History Museum planned for the national suffrage centennial has been mounted outside — on the wrap-around porch of the historic J. Gilbert Smith House — for safe viewing during this COVID-19 era.
“We use stories of local suffragists from Santa Clara County to show what that fight looked like here, and how their efforts contributed to victory in California,” curator Amy Ellison said. “The exhibit also looks at who was excluded from the 19th Amendment…cont.
“Rise Up!” at the Los Altos History Museum will be an alfresco learning experience until the exhibit can be moved indoors for safe viewing. (Photo courtesy of the Los Altos History Museum)
