The Cambridge Historical Society engages with our city to explore how the past influences the present in order to shape a better future. This year, we are asking “Who Are Cambridge Women?”
Our 2020 theme is important now more than ever in this year of national celebration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment granting women suffrage. While the Society wholeheartedly appreciates the momentous nature of this anniversary, we also acknowledge the ways in which the movement for its passage excluded the voices of many, particularly women of color and those from immigrant communities.
Why spend a year discussing Cambridge women? Women’s stories are still largely overlooked in the broader historical narrative, and women continue to face obstacles to their full participation in civic life, economic equality, and even their physical health and safety. In light of these ongoing challenges, the Society has chosen to focus our 2020 programs on the many roles that women in Cambridge have played – and continue to play – in the city’s past, present, and future. In so doing, we seek to both broaden the scope of our inquiry to include women from a range of time periods, racial and ethnic backgrounds, classes and religions, and to narrow our focus to explore the experiences of women in the particular geographical and cultural microcosm of Cambridge.
There’s a lot here. It’s important. And we need your voice.
I hope to see you at our Opening Conversation and Annual Meeting in February as we begin to delve into this fascinating theme.
With warm wishes for the New Year,
Marieke Van Damme
Executive Director
