After the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920, Carrie Chapman Catt reflected that the war had made suffrage possible.  Was World War I pivotal in winning the vote for women?  Historian Lynn Dumenil will discuss the dramatically different approaches of the two key suffrage organizations -- the National American Woman Suffrage  Association and the Woman's Party -- and explore the ways in which World War I prompted new conceptions of citizenship and political activism for women.

Dumenil, Professor Emerita at Occidental College, is the author of the recent book, The Second Line of Defense: American Women and World War I. Extensively researched and drawing upon popular culture sources as well as archival material, her book offers a comprehensive study of American women and war and frames them in the broader context of the social, cultural, and political history of the era.

This talk will mark the opening of the exhibit “The 19th Amendment: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote in the United States,” which will be on display from August 18 to December 18, 2019.