Women's History Month | Smithsonian Institution

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe performs at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival

Sister Rosetta Tharpe performs at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival, Photo by Diana Jo Davies, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collection, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Join the Smithsonian in celebrating Women's History Month by exploring events, resources, podcast episodes, and exhibitions that tell a diversity of women's stories. Listen to women's voices in a Smithsonian Folkways playlist developed with the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum that features songs, poems, and speeches capturing a wide range of expression.

Upcoming Events

Resources

woman focused on online webinar while learning at home

American Women's History Museum

Education Resources

Explore resources for learners of all ages from the American Women's History Museum and others.

Toni Morrison

Smithsonian Spotlight

American Women Writers

Discover women writers who have made a mark on American history and culture.

woman with pink nail polish holds a mobile phone with the Girlhood Zine

American Women's History Museum

Girls Speak Out with Zines

Have something to say? Learn how zines have been used to share stories and create connections.

Louise Nevelson photograph

Smithsonian Spotlight

American Women Artists

Discover women artists and their works in the collections.

Lucille Ball

Smithsonian Spotlight

Entertaining Women

American women on stage and screen as reflected in Smithsonian collections.

Barbara Dane with the Chambers Brothers at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

American Women's History Museum

Six Musicians Who Led Social Change

Learn about six women from the exhibition Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

National Portrait Gallery

Ida B. Wells

The daughter of former slaves, journalist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells vigorously investigated and exposed racial violence.

Octavia Butler Typewriter

Smithsonian Snapshot

Keys to the Future

Octavia Butler was a master storyteller and considered the godmother of Afrofuturism.

B&W photo of Saralegui interviewing guest in front of an audience

Smithsonian Snapshot

Meet the Cuban Oprah: Cristina Saralegui

To millions of people, she’s known on a first-name basis: Cristina.

Phyllis Diller dress

Smithsonian Spotlight

Phyllis Diller: Life and Laughs

Diller used her experience as a wife and mother to create a satirical persona outside the traditional values of her audience.

Lorraine Hansberry in her Greenwich Village apartment

Smithsonian Snapshot

Her Moment in the Sun

Celebrated playwright and civil rights activist Lorraine Hansberry in her Greenwich Village apartment.

Ethel L. Payne

Smithsonian Snapshot

A Fearless Journalist

Journalist and civil rights activist Ethel Payne was often known as the First Lady of the Black Press

Judith Jamison in Cry

Smithsonian Spotlight

Judith Jamison

Recognized as one of the most prominent figures in modern dance, Jamison danced in Cry, the tour de force solo by Alvin Ailey.

Poster showing a diverse group of women with the words don't call me girl!

Smithsonian Spotlight

Women's Graphics Collective

The collective brought women designers and activists together to produce art that advanced the women’s movement.

Loretta Lynn Signing Autographs

Smithsonian Snapshot

The Coal Miner’s Daughter and a Canary Yellow Dress

Country music icon Loretta Lynn created her own look and sound.

“Offering Education,” “Offering Life” and “Rejecting Injustice”

Smithsonian Snapshot

Elizabeth Catlett Showcased Issues Through Her Art

Catlett’s sculptures show her long-standing interest in African American dignity, struggle, motherhood and uplift.

Podcast Episodes

woman with guitar

Sidedoor Podcast

Sing a Song of Protest

As an up-and-coming young blues singer in the 1950s, Barbara Dane faced a choice: fame and fortune, or her principles.

Ms. Magazine cover

Sidedoor Podcast

How Wonder Woman Got Her Groove Back

It took a feminist magazine cover to catapult Wonder Woman from comic book character to the icon.

Phillis Wheatley Engraving on paper

National Portrait Gallery

Phillis Wheatley Redrawn

In this Portraits podcast episode, Ashleigh Coren and writer Honorée Jeffers ask us to re-imagine Wheatley's life, drawn in poetry.

Dorothy Liebes with colorful fabric swatches

Sidedoor Podcast

Dynamo Dot

Dorothy Liebes was a whirlwind in the weaving world.

Exhibitions

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