Women’s Suffrage Monuments

As we learned about the women’s suffrage movement, we examined the ways in which women of color are often erased from that history, despite holding key leadership and organizing positions throughout that era. With this in mind, we read Finish the Fight, a recent book by Veronica Chambers and the staff of The New York Times, which highlights the contributions by women of color and LGBTQ+ women in the struggle for universal suffrage in the United States.

First, each student chose one woman or community to focus on from Finish the Fight. Then, in order to understand how we collectively remember historical figures, we studied a variety of monuments and how they tell the stories of events, individuals, and eras. Following this, students designed their own monuments for the women or communities that they had studied. In these designs, students considered how to utilize meaningful symbols, visuals, and colors in their work. They also considered where the monument would be located and how visitors might interact with it.

Click on the images below to see each student’s design and to read an artist statement explaining their choices!

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Meridian AcademyJune 8, 2021