Women’s History Month
Suffrage parade in New York City, ca. 1912. View in National Archives Catalog
The National Archives celebrates Women’s History Month, recognizing the great contributions that women have made to our nation. Learn about the history of women in the United States by exploring their stories through letters, photographs, film, and other primary sources.
Centennial of the 19th Amendment
One hundred years ago, the struggle to win the right to vote for women was reaching its goal. In May 1919, the House of Representatives passed what was to become the 19th Amendment, which was ratified by three-fourths of the states on August 18, 1920. The National Archives will honor the centennial with exhibits, programs, and special events. Explore the resources on our Women's Rights page.
Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote, an exhibit in Washington, DC, looks beyond suffrage parades and protests to the often overlooked story behind ratification of the 19th Amendment. May 10, 2019–January 3, 2021
One Half of the People: Advancing Equality for Women is a traveling exhibit that draws on National Archives records to illustrate the involvement of American women to secure their essential citizenship rights.
Employee Affinity Groups (EAGs) at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) serve as a forum for education, communication, and professional development. Through NARA's collaboration with the 2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative (WVCI) to observe the 19th Amendment Centennial Celebration, members of WAG will be providing updates to NARA’s research pages, which will be featured on the WVCI website.
Explore selected images from the National Archives Catalog related to Women's History.
AOTUS: Remembering Cokie
Forward with Roosevelt: A First Lady on the Front Lines
Forward with Roosevelt: Eleanor Roosevelt's Battle to End Lynching
Forward with Roosevelt: Missy LeHand: FDR’s Right Hand Woman
Hoover Heads: Tempest in a Teapot – Lou Henry Hoover and the DePriest Tea Incident
Hoover Heads: Who is Anne Martin?
JFK Library—Archivally Speaking: Finding Inspiration in the Archives: Honoring Women at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
JFK Library—Archivally Speaking: Personal Recollections of Corinne “Lindy” Boggs
JFK Library—Archivally Speaking: Restoring the Past in the White House: A Look at the Jacqueline Kennedy White House Restoration Project
NARAtions: The Making of Women’s Equality Day
Pieces of History: 19th Amendment at 100: Women Are First to Protest White House
Pieces of History: 19th Amendment at 100: Mary Church Terrell
Pieces of History: Marjorie S. Joyner: More than an Inventor
Pieces of History: Suffrage and Suffering at the 1913 March
Pieces of History: Ida Wilson Lewis, lighthouse keeper and fearless Federal worker
Pieces of History: Sara Dunlap Jackson: Archivist Extraordinaire
Pieces of History: A Matter of Simple Justice
Pieces of History: The Maker of Pilots: Aviator and Civil Rights Activist Willa Beatrice Brown
Pieces of History: The Movement as a Mosaic: Alice Paul and Woman Suffrage
Pieces of History: Putting the “Rat” in Ratification: Tennessee’s Role in the 19th Amendment
Pieces of History: The 19th Amendment on Display at the National Archives
Pieces of History: Jeannette Rankin: The Woman Who Voted to Give Women the Right to Vote
Pieces of History: Women can’t vote, but they can run for Congress
Pieces of History: Susan B. Anthony: Women’s Right to Vote
Pieces of History: History Crush: Susan B. Anthony
Pieces of History: Suffrage and Suffering at the 1913 March
Pieces of History: Failure of the Equal Rights Amendment: The Feminist Fight of the 1970s
Pieces of History: Change at Their Fingertips: Women’s Petitions to Congress
Pieces of History: The Hello Girls Finally Get Paid
Pieces of History: Women's History in the Archives
Pieces of History: Minnie Spotted Wolf
Pieces of History: Changing the Boundaries: Women at Work in the Government
Pieces of History: Finding the Girl in the Photograph
Pieces of History: Annie Oakley: A Woman to be Reckoned With
Pieces of History: Eugenie Anderson’s Historic Firsts
Pieces of History: Betty Ford Danced to Her Own Beat
Pieces of History: Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Fighter for Social Justice
Pieces of History: Josephine Cobb’s Discovery of a Lifetime
Pieces of History: Amelia Earhart: Showing What Women Can Do
Pieces of History: Dr. Mary E. Walker
Text Message: The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909
Text Message: Navy Nurse Sara M. Cox
Text Message: Women in Uniform: Red Cross Service of Mona Ryan Inman in World War I
Text Message: The Closed Door of Justice: African American Nurses and the Fight for Naval Service
Text Message: Lucile Atcherson, First Woman Appointed as a U.S. Diplomatic Officer
Text Message: The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909
Unwritten Record: The Sky No Longer Has Limits: Female Fighter Pilots and the Combat Exclusion Policy
Unwritten Record: Title IX and Women’s Soccer in NARA’s Film Holdings
Unwritten Record: A Mother, a Baby, a Name: Identifying One of the Youngest Survivors of the Holocaust
Unwritten Record: Women Doing Awesome Things
Unwritten Record: Hidden Women: The Art of WWI Camouflage, part 1 and part 2
Unwritten Record: National Women’s Conference of 1977
Unwritten Record: Their War Too: U.S. Women in the Military During WWII, part 1 and part 2
Unwritten Record: Title IX and Women’s Soccer in NARA’s Film Holdings
Taking a Stand for Voting Rights
Belva Lockwood: Blazing the Trail for Women in Law
The Rejection of Elizabeth Mason: The Case of a “Free Colored” Revolutionary Widow
From Slave Women to Free Women: The National Archives and Black Women's History in the Civil War EraWomen Soldiers of the Civil War
Winema and the Modoc War: One Woman’s Struggle for Peace
Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802–1940
When Saying "I Do" Meant Giving Up Your U.S. Citizenship
“Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married . . .” Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802–1940
The Story of the Female Yeomen during the First World War
World War I Gold Star Mothers, Part 1; Part 2
“To the Rescue of the Crops”: The Women’s Land Army During World War II
Wearing Lipstick to War: An American Woman in World War II England and France
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The Equal Rights Amendment: Yesterday and Today Written in 1921 by suffragist Alice Paul, the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced into every session of Congress between 1923 and 1972. A panel explores the proposed amendment and its implications in today's world. |
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10th Annual McGowan Forum on Women in Leadership: Political Campaigns Political communicators and strategists discuss their experiences working on political campaigns on both local and national levels, the changes in opportunities and obstacles, and advice for young women looking to become more involved in politics. |
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Joelle Gamble Closing Remarks | National Conversations on #RightsAndJustice Joelle Gamble, Director of National Network of Emerging Thinkers, Roosevelt Institute, shares her experience as an emerging generation. |
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America's First Ladies: In Service to Our Nation First Ladies have long the power to shape societal attitudes and used their platform to advocate for important issues. This conference focuses on the First Lady as spouse of the Commander in Chief and the actions they have taken, throughout times of war and peace, to support Americans in combat, military families, and the country's veterans. |
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Harriet Tubman: A Woman of Courage and Vision In celebration of the March 2017 grand opening of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor’s Center, we join the National Park Service in presenting a panel discussion examining the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman and the ongoing preservation of her Maryland |
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Madam C.J. Walker in the National Archives Madam C.J. Walker, one of the great American entrepreneurs of the early 20th century, was born to former slaves and grew up in destitution. |
Additional Videos
Women’s History on the Horizon: The Centennial of Woman Suffrage in 2020
The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote
Women’s Suffrage and the Vote: Funding Feminism
The Equal Rights Amendment: Yesterday and Today
Temperance and Woman Suffrage: Reform Movements and the Women Who Changed America
Women’s History Month Program: The Glass Ceiling, Broken or Cracked?
"Feminism" and Women of Color, National Conversation on #RightsAndJustice (Q&A with Soledad O'Brien)
National Conversations on Rights and Justice Women's Rights and Gender Equality
The Declaration of Independence: A Conversation with a Conservator
Historic Footage
Space for Women (NASA, 1981)
Women in Defense (1941)
Women on the Warpath (1943)
100th Anniversary of Jeannette Rankin as First Congresswoman
Jeannette Rankin's 1917 credentials as a Member of the House of Representatives were displayed at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
Records of Rights
The "Records of Rights" exhibit in Washington, DC, and online tells the story of women's rights.
The U.S. Food Administration, Women, and the Great War
Women played a key role in food conservation during World War I.
Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations
After leaving the White House Eleanor Roosevelt became the first woman to represent the United States as a delegate to the United Nations.
Amending America: Women's Rights
Explore selected stories about civil rights and individual freedoms featured at our National Conversation on #RightsAndJustice: Women's Rights and Gender Equality in New York City.
A People at War: Women Who Served
Although women were not allowed to participate in battle during World War II, they did serve in so-called "noncombat" missions in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).. These missions often proved to be extremely dangerous.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
Eleanor Roosevelt's Press Conferences
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library
Women in Politics in the 1950s
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
Records of the Commission on the Status of Women
JFK’s remarks on the President's Commission on the Status of Women’s Final Report
Gerald R. Ford Library
George W. Bush Library
Gale A. Norton, First Woman to be Secretary of the Interior
Ann Veneman, Frst Woman to be Secretary of Agriculture
Condoleezza Rice, First African American Woman to be Secretary of State
Cristeta Comerford, First Woman to be Named White House Executive Chef
Elaine L. Chao, first Asian American woman to be Secretary of Labor
Speeches by First Lady Laura Bush
Mrs. Bush's Remarks to Women CEOs
Education Updates: Women’s Suffrage Posters & Displays
Education Updates: New Women’s Rights Teaching Resources
DocsTeach activities on Women's Rights
DocsTeach page on "Rights in America,” with primary sources on Women's Rights
DocsTeach page on "1970s America,” with primary sources on Women's Rights
The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements
Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment
Failure Is Impossible, a one-act play
Women's Suffrage Party Petition
Examining Rosa Parks's Arrest Record
Selected Images
Astronauts Ellen Ochoa, Julie Payette and, Tamara Jernigan with a National Women's Party banner in the International Space Station in 1999. View in National Archives Catalog
Eleanor Roosevelt and Marian Anderson in Japan, May 22, 1953. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)
First Lady Betty Ford with members of the National Women’s Party following the presentation of the first Alice Paul Award to Mrs. Ford in the Map Room at the White House, January 11, 1977. View in National Archives Catalog
Swearing-In ceremony for Madeleine Albright as Secretary of State, January 23, 1997 (Photo by Ralph Alswang). View in National Archives Catalog
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in the Oval Office, September 18, 2001 (Photo by Tina Hager). View in National Archives Catalog
A woman works on Liberty airplane engines at the Packard Motor Company in Detroit during World War II. View in National Archives Catalog
Women Lumberjacks on a log chute at Turkey Pond, NH, November 1942: Mildred Sobell, 23; Barbara Webber 21; and Norma Webber 18. View in National Archives Catalog
Native American Marine Corps Women Reservists, Camp Lejeune, NC, October 1943: Minnie Spotted Wolf of the Blackfeet, Celia Mix, Potawatomi, and Violet Eastman, Chippewa. View in National Archives Catalog
Native women of the village of Ambler ice fishing for whitefish, October 1973 (Photo by Bob Belous). View in National Archives Catalog
A woman scientist working for NASA, October 17, 1978 (Photo by Hank Seidel). View in National Archives Catalog