LAST CHANCE TO SEE
Creating Icons: How We Remember Woman Suffrage
Closes Jan. 2, 2022
Second Floor, East
“Creating Icons: How We Remember Women’s Suffrage” highlights women’s achievements in winning suffrage while inviting audiences to explore how the country celebrates milestones, what we as a nation remember, what (and who) has been forgotten or silenced over time, and how those exclusions helped create the cracks and fissures in a movement that continue to impact women’s politics and activism. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a six-foot tall portrait of Susan B. Anthony painted by Sarah J. Eddy in 1900. It also features items donated between 1919 and 1920 by the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (now the League of Women Voters), materials related to Adelaide Johnson and Alice Paul, and contemporary items from the 2017 Women’s March as well as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s gavel.
“A Nation Grieves”
A Display of COVID-19 Memorial Flags
Closes Jan. 2, 2022
Second Floor, East
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History collected 24 of the white plastic flags from the public art installation designed by artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg. The “In America...How Could This Happen.” installation outside of RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. was designed to honor and remember the lives lost in the U.S. to COVID-19. The museum added the flags to its collection as part of its efforts to collect artifacts related to the discovery, response and loss that has continued as a result of COVID-19.
Escaramuza Dress
New Perspectives case in Girlhood (It's complicated)
Closes Jan. 18, 2022
Second Floor, East
A new case outside of “Girlhood (It’s complicated)” will showcase additional collections. An escaramuza charra dress worn by Veronica Davila is on view, representing the only female event in the Mexican charrería. Escaramuzas consist of teams of 8 riding horses in synchronized maneuvers. Davila wore this colorful dress in the early 2000s as captain of the escaramuza team “Las Valentinas” in San Antonio, TX. As escaramuza charras, girls reclaim their Mexican cultural heritage and affirm their Mexican American identity. Riders wear stunning traditional outfits inspired by the fearless adelitas, women fighters in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Ensembles follow strict guidelines to preserve historical and cultural authenticity. Skirts must cover the horse’s haunches and allow the team to perform dangerous maneuverers at high speeds while riding sidesaddle. Girls also don the emblematic sombrero charro, a broad-brimmed hat designed to provide relief from the blistering heat of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. The dress will be be accompanied by a Latinas Talk Latina’s video featuring footage of Davila, and will be made available as a 3D scan.