BWHT 20th Anniversary Events, 2009

In 2009, the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail celebrated its first two decades by sponsoring and co-sponsoring an outstanding series of programs and events.

Throughout March 2009, Women’s History Month, the calendar was packed with lectures, presentations, and special guided Trail walks. Read about our sold-out Roxbury Trolley tour co-sponsored by Discover Roxbury and the magnificent concert “From Symphonies to Suffrage: Music of Amy Beach’s Boston” with celebrated pianist Virginia Eskin and soprano Jayne West.

In July 2009, we held a Summer Institute for Grade 5 teachers in the Boston Public Schools.

A Studio of Her Own: New Perspectives

• March 4, 2009
• Wednesday, 7:00 pm
• Museum of Fine Arts Boston – Remis Auditorium
• Purchase tickets online here
• Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, artist; Deborah H. Dluhy, Dean, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Erica Hirshler, Croll Senior Curator of Paintings, Art of the Americas, author and curator of A Studio of Her Own; and Mary Ellen Strom, artist.
  Scholar Linda Nochlin once asked why there had been no great women artists, suggesting that few could have succeeded in an art world defined and dominated by men. Today, the history of art is being rewritten to include women’s contributions, often by redefining the very boundaries of art. Join curator Erica Hirshler, Museum School dean Deborah H. Dluhy, and two contemporary artists for a lively discussion of women artists, past and present.
• $15 for members, $18 for non-members; no charge for Wednesday afternoon museum admission!
• www.mfa.org

• March 5, 2009
• Thursday, 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
• Old South Meeting House
• Women’s struggles to achieve legal rights and participate fully as voters, attorneys, and judges is a centuries-long story that is still playing out today. Join local historian and former director of The Boston Women’s Heritage Trail Bonnie Hurd Smith for a fascinating look at four centuries of women’s legal history in Boston.
• $5, Free for members
• OldSouthMeetingHouse.org

12th Annual International Women’s Day:

Who Owns Your Food and Water, Globally and Locally

• March 6, 2009
• Friday, 7:30 am – 9:30 am
• Simmons College, Linda K. Paresky Conference Center
• diane.hammer@simmons.edu

Women Against the Vote: The Anti-Suffragists

• March 12, 2009
• Thursday, 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
• Old South Meeting House
• Rallying around narrow definitions of “true” womanhood, common decency, and the responsibilities of motherhood, some women were vocal opponents of female suffrage in the United States. Join Jayne Gordon and Kathleen Barker of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Aliza Saivetz of Old South Meeting House to explore the anti-suffrage the Massachusetts Historical Society.
• $5, Free for members
• OldSouthMeetingHouse.org

In Her Own Words: Susan B. Anthony

• March 19, 2009
• Thursday, 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
• Old South Meeting House
• Listen to the stories of activist Susan B. Anthony as portrayed by Sally Matson. A Massachusetts native, Anthony spent years fighting for suffrage, temperance, and abolition. Her travels and her interactions with legislators, activists, and newspapermen confirm her reputation as the foremost leader of the women suffrage movement. Anthony’s perseverance kept the movement alive and her final words, “Failure is impossible,” have encouraged generations working for equal rights.
• $5, Free for members
• OldSouthMeetingHouse.org

Focus on Women at the Boston Public Library: A Tour of Right and Wrong in Boston

• March 22, 2009
• Sunday, 2:30 pm – 4 pm
• Boston Public Library, Dartmouth Street Entrance
• Free.
• An exhibit focusing on the women of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and their city, with librarian and curator Roberta Zonghi; and a tour of the library’s art relating to women. BWHT board member Michelle Jenney and the BPL art and architecture tour guide ask what is right and wrong about how women are represented at the Boston Public Library.

Boston Women and School Suffrage

• March 26, 2009
• Thursday, 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
• Old South Meeting House
• When women were granted the right to vote in school committee elections, some advocates believed it was an “entering wedge” that would soon lead to full suffrage rights. Professor Polly Kaufman, who serves on the Board of the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail, explains how Boston women suffrage leaders worked to keep the goal of achieving full suffrage in the forefront, despite the controversies that developed among women based on societal and ethnic differences.
• $5, Free for members
• OldSouthMeetingHouse.org

Roxbury Women’s History, trolley tour

• March 28, 2009
• Saturday, 10:00 am – Noon
• Dr. Marie Zakrewska, Susan Dimock, Melnea Cass, Muriel Snowden, Elma Lewis, and other women made important contributions to the neighborhood, Boston, and American society. Explore their histories and see their legacies on a fascinating tour led by members of the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail. Trolley departs Back Bay Station at 9:30 am (Dartmouth St. exit) and Roxbury Heritage State Park at 9:45 a.m.
• $10 – Limited to 30. Reservations required, enrollment ends March 26.
• DiscoverRoxbury.org

From Symphonies to Suffrage: Music of Amy Beach’s Boston

Virginia Eskin, piano, Jayne West, soprano, in a concert to honor the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail

• March 28, 2009
• Saturday, 2:30 pm
• Rabb Lecture Hall
  Boston Public Library, Copley Square
  700 Boylston Street
  For more info call the BPL Music Dept. at 617-859-2285
• Concert is free and open to the public. Rabb Lecture Hall is wheelchair accessible. Assistive listening devices are available. To request a sign language interpreter or for help with other special needs, call (617) 536-5400, ext. 2295 or (617) 536-7055 (TTY) at least two weeks before the program date.

Music By Women of the Americas from Three Centuries

• March 29, 2009
• Sunday, 3:00 pm
• Women’s Studies Research Center, Epstein Building, Brandeis University
• Music by women of the Americas from three centuries performed by the Lydian String Quartet. With music by Teresa Carreño (Venezuelan, late 19th century), Florence Price (African-American, mid-20th c.), Ruth Lomon and Beth Denisch (late 20th c.) and a new piece by Cuban composer Magaly Ruiz Lastres. Concert is organized by BWHT board member Liane Curtis.
• Tickets required, but no charge to Brandeis community or BWHT members, $10 for other students and $15 for all others.
• Call 617-776-1809 or email Lcurtis@brandeis.edu to reserve tickets.

Come celebrate the life of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Join Boston Women’s Heritage Trail tour guides as we exp lore the North End to learn about Rose’s background and childhood. Enjoy the Rose Kennedy Garden and the Mothers Walk. Bring your own memory of Rose and her family to share.

Free. Rain or shine. All ages. Meet at the Mothers Walk on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Milk Street.

More information: Alexandra Lee, Director of Public Programs for the Greenway Conservancy, or call 617-292-0020, or visit: Rose Kennedy Greenway