Illustrations by Brooke Smart of Alice Kasai, Mignon Barker Richmond, and Sareph Young.
Utah Women Making History
The year 2020 will mark three significant women’s rights anniversaries. Utahns will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Utah women’s first votes, when 25 women cast ballots in the Salt Lake City election on February 14, 1870 and became the first American women to vote under an equal suffrage law. The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, that extended voting rights to women in the United States when it was ratified on August 26, 1920, and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, that provided needed protections for minority voting rights on August 6, 1965 will also happen in 2020. Utah women were at the forefront of the national suffrage movement in many ways, but the fight for women’s voting rights was just one step in a long list of rights that have had to be gained. Even before the passage of the 19th Amendment, and especially since, Utah women have worked to better their communities in the arts, business, education, law, medicine, the military, music, writing, politics, religious and community organizations, science, sports, and more. This exhibit, “Utah Women Making History,” includes Utah artist Brooke Smart’s illustrations of Utah women (and a few men) who worked throughout the 20th century to advocate for women and advance their communities. These 50 illustrations were commissioned by Better Days 2020, a nonprofit dedicated to popularizing Utah women’s history and spearheading Utah’s statewide celebrations of these significant anniversaries.
Resources
- Utah Women Making History: http://utahwomenshistory.org
- Artwork with longer biographies: https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/bios/
- Champions of Change: 25 Women Who Made History written by Naomi Watkins and Katherine Kitterman; illustrated by Brooke Smart (released August 20, 2019)
- Downloadable press release Utah Women Making History
- Downloadable press photos
- Educational Materials
2023-2024 Traveling Schedule
Snow College Library Oct 5 - Dec 9, 2023
Duchesne Library, Oct 6 - Nov 8, 2023
Wasatch Academy, Liberal Hall Museum, Nov 9 - Dec 12. 2023
Orem Public Library, Mar 4 - Apr 11, 2024
Cottonwood Arts Council, City Hall Gallery, Apr 1 - May 4, 2024
Wasatch Public Library, Apr 12 - May 30, 2024
2022-2023 Traveling Schedule
Delta City Public Library, Delta, May 4 - Aug 4, 2022
Park City Public Library, Park City, Jun 7- Aug 15, 2022
Escalante High School, Escalante, Sep 21 - Oct 25, 2022
Clark Johnson Jr High, Nov 10 - Dec 7, 2023
Kamas City Public Library, Kamas, Jan 11 - Feb 14, 2023
Museums at Union Station, Ogden, Feb 6 - Mar 9, 2023
Delta South Elementary, Delta, Feb 17 - Mar 17, 2023
Centerpoint Legacy Theatre, Centerville, Mar 10 - Apr 15, 2023
2021-2022 Traveling Schedule
Springville Museum of Art, Springville, May 3 - Aug 30, 2021
Old Dome Meeting Hall, Riverton, Jul 13 - Sep 20, 2021
Wasatch Elementary, Salt Lake City, Sep 1 - Oct 6, 2021
Rich Middle School, Laketown, Oct 7 - Nov 4, 2021
Southern Utah University Library,, Cedar City, Oct 13 - Nov 11, 2021
Hub City Gallery, Mount Pleasant, Dec 7, 2021 - Feb 23, 2023
Gallery East, USU Eastern, Price, Jan 3 - 31, 2022
Hanksville Elementary, Hanksville, Jan 31 - Feb 28
Tooele Junior High, Tooele, Mar 3 - Apr 1, 2022
Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, Salt Lake City, Mar 10 - Apr 21, 2022
Delta City Public Library, Delta, May 4 - Aug 4, 2022
Park City Public Library, Park City, Jun 7- Aug 15, 2022
2020-2021 Traveling Schedule
Bountiful Davis Art Center, Bountiful, 7/31-9/21
Orem Public Library, Orem, 9/21-11/2
Boulder Community Gallery 11/2-12/15
Weber State University Stewart Library, Ogden, 12/17-3/1/2021
Springville Museum of Art, Springville, 5/3-8/30