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DIVA American Suffragist Project
American Suffragists: A DIVA Production
Made possible by a generous grant from the Women’s Fund of the Wayne County, Indiana, Foundation
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America, DIVA will produce a multimedia, intergenerational, inclusive production that marries art with civic education.
In July of 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton stood in front of the Seneca Falls Convention and declared, “We hold these truths to be self evident: That all men and women are created equal.” In the Declaration of Sentiments which resulted, it was resolved that “all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature, and therefore of no force or authority.”
As we honor those who fought to gain women the right to vote in America, we will strive to tell the stories of voices that were suppressed. American suffragists sought the vote for their Christian, educated, and white sisters. After all, in their Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, the suffragists complained that “[Man] has withheld from [Woman] her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men – both natives and foreigners.” This project will tell the whole story of women’s suffrage in America.
In an ambitious project led by women but crafted, produced, and experienced by women and men of all ages, races, nationalities, classes, and philosophies, DIVA will celebrate this chapter in American history by developing and performing a production that includes interactive elements of every art form – from painting to music, poetry to dance, spoken word to song. Interactive workshops will be developed for students of all ages. Ultimately, the work will be published and made available for licensing and performance.
We invite you to join us as we explore and honestly assess the women’s suffrage movement in America in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution.