Activism
Voting rights. Civil Rights. Reproductive rights. A living wage. Equal access to education. Progress on these and every other major social issue of our time has its roots in the activism and advocacy of everyday people in the past. Did you know it took 100 years for the 19th Amendment to be ratified into the Constitution? One hundred years of American women organizing, campaigning, marching, writing, speaking, protesting, and being jailed.
In 1970, activist Angela Davis was charged with murder. A movement arose to free her, and her time in jail inspired her to work to change the prison system. Kemi, a student, talks with Kelly Elaine Navies, oral historian at our National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Collection Objects
Discover the stories behind these objects or explore more collections related to activism and advocacy.
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Kat Rodriguez's Lady Liberty -
A Lifelong Crusader for Trans Rights -
The Union of Two Native American Rights Activists -
Fighting for Temperance with an Axe -
Billie Holiday Used Her Music to Remember Victims of Lynching -
Attacking Sexism and Racism in the Art World
Conversation Kit
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Let's Talk! Queen Liliʻuokalani Conversation Kit
Videos
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Lady Bird Johnson was a committed supporter of the Civil Rights Movement: from touring the country to speak against racism to refusing to stay in segregated hotels.
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Mary Elliot, curator of American slavery at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, shares what Sojourner Truth means to her. Often overlooked, Sojourner Truth was enslaved for 35 years and went on to become a women's rights activist and abolitionist.
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In coversation with Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, a singer, activist, historian, and a profound contributor to African American culture who organized multi-racial performances in the segregated American South in the 1960s.
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Taína Caragol, curator of Latino art and history at the National Portrait Gallery discusses Dolores Huerta, co-founder, with Cesar Chavez, of the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta was instrumental in achieving major legal protections and a better standard of living for farm workers.
Playlist
Smithsonian American Women
