Celebrate Women’s Day with suffrage marker, women of color fest
International Women’s Day honors the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women every year on March 8. Here are two ways to commemorate women’s achievements in Las Vegas.
View a new historical marker
This year is the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in the U.S. A marker was installed in downtown Las Vegas on Thursday to recognize and celebrate efforts of Las Vegas women in that fight.
“We recognize the Mesquite Club and, in particular, the second president, Delphine Squires, who provided a network to the southern part of the state so that suffrage speakers who came to Nevada would travel to Las Vegas and speak about giving women the right to vote,” says Joanne Goodwin, UNLV Professor of History and board member of the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites.
The organization has partnered with the William G. Pomeroy Foundation to place historic markers in each state and territory of the U.S., including five markers in Nevada, recognizing significant events and people in the suffrage campaign.
The initiative emerged from the National Votes for Women Trail, an undertaking by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, which recognizes 1,100 places and people who worked for women’s suffrage from the middle of the 19th century through 1920.
The marker can be viewed in the Centennial Plaza adjacent to the Historic Fifth Street School.
Women of Color Arts Festival
This weekend’s inaugural Women of Color Arts Festival aims to celebrate artists from all backgrounds and nationalities in the Las Vegas Valley for a weekend dedicated to visibility, representation and connection.
Timed to coincide with the centennial of women’s suffrage and International Women’s Day, and on the heels of Black History month, the free, four-day event includes performances, workshops and forum discussions.
The festival closes on Sunday with yoga at 8 a.m. at Fergusons Downtown, an 11 a.m. jazz brunch at 18bin and a Women of Color in the Arts Panel Discussion at 1 p.m. at Vegas Theatre Company.
Contact Janna Karel at jkarel@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jannainprogress on Twitter.
