Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, NJ Women Vote: The 19th Amendment at 100 (NJ Women Vote) canceled all in-person events and programs. The partnership pivoted to support digital projects that could be accessed widely from the safety of home. This page includes all digital projects and recorded online programs developed through NJ Women Vote funding.
Wrapping Up NJ Women Vote
This video summarizes the programs and projects developed by NJ Women Vote and our partner organizations.
Arts and Humanities Commissions Project
In June of 2020, NJ Women Vote placed a call for artists and humanities scholars to create digital content that addresses the theme of voting and suffrage, particularly related to New Jersey. Two proposals were selected to receive commissions. Funding for this project was provided by NJ Women Vote with assistance from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
LegacyNOW
LegacyNOW is a digital arts and humanities project created by coLAB Arts from the oral histories of leading second wave feminists from the National Organization for Women-New Jersey, conducted by New Jersey teens just coming into the movement. New Jersey-based theater artists were commissioned to create new digital performances based on these experiences, and include a diverse group of five female-identifying playwrights: Karen Alvarado, Stephanie Bond, Aizzah Fatima, Angela Kariotis, and Antu Yacob. Their projects range from scripted scenes, to monologues, to performance poems. Visit https://colab-arts.org/legacynow to learn more about the project.
RADICAL WOMEN: FIGHTING FOR POWER AND THE VOTE IN NEW JERSEY! Black, Native American and Immigrant Women’s Voices
This virtual exhibition, a digital expression of the Newark Public Library’s Radical Women: Fighting for Power and the Vote in New Jersey! exhibition, is a timely, artistic, and historical journey of Black, Native American, immigrant and white women’s voices in the fight for respect, justice, and the vote. In addition to content from the original exhibition, this work features the work of New Jersey women and non-binary artists. Directed by curator and researcher Noelle Lorraine Williams in conjunction with director of photography Kay the Kreator of Gold Standard Productions, it inspires audiences to vote and continue the fight for justice. Visit https://npl.org/radical-women-fighting-for-power-and-the-vote-in-new-jersey/ to learn more about the project.
NJ Women Vote Video Series
Beginning in 1776 and concluding in the 1964, the NJ Women Vote video series demonstrates that the struggle for the right to vote is as relevant now as it was nearly 250 years ago. Over the course of five, 90-second installments, the series explores the changes to voting rights in New Jersey over time, noting who determined the limits of suffrage, and how those who were denied the franchise sought to secure it. It also highlights leading voices in New Jersey’s suffrage movements, and interrogates the challenges that racism, sexism, and classism presented in the fight for the ballot. The series was sponsored by NJ Women Vote: The 19th Amendment at 100 with support from the Alice Paul Institute and Middlesex County, NJ. You can view the series as a YouTube playlist here.
1776
This first episode of the NJ Women Vote video series, “1776,” explores the expansion and contraction of voting rights between the New Jersey Constitution of 1776 and subsequent state legislation passed in 1807.
1865
This second episode in the NJ Women Vote video series, “1865,” follows activism on behalf of women’s suffrage and abolition during the nineteenth century.
1900
The third episode of the NJ Women Vote video series, “1900,” focuses on the Black women who created organizations and networks to fight for social change, often grounded in religious congregations.
1920
This fourth installment of the NJ Women Vote series, “1915,” tracks the fight over passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, with men and women advocating on both sides.
1964
The fifth and final episode of the NJ Women Vote series, “1964,” focuses on civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
NJ Women’s History Virtual Tour Project
NJ Women Vote and co-sponsors the New Jersey Historic Trust and Alice Paul Institute supported the filming and production of short virtual tours at six NJ women’s history sites in 2020: The Old Barracks Museum, Bamboo Brook/Merchiston Farm (Morris County Parks Commission), Historic Whitesbog Village, the Women’s Federation Monument (Palisades Interstate Park), Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society, and the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum. The project was developed to support virtual engagement with sites during the COVID-19 pandemic and to help promote the unique and diverse stories represented through the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail. You can view all six tours via this YouTube playlist and linked below.
The Old Barracks Museum
Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center/Merchiston Farm
Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society
Women’s Federation Monument at Palisades Interstate Park
Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum
Historic Whitesbog Village
Recorded Online Programs
Women’s Equality Day
In commemoration of Women’s Equality Day and the centennial of the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, NJ Women Vote hosted a virtual panel, Building on Our Past to Pave Our Future, on Wednesday, August 26, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The commemorative event, held via Zoom, was a collaborative effort co-sponsored by the New Jersey Division on Women, a division of the Department of Children and Families, and Thomas Edison State University. The panel was moderated by Debbie Walsh, Director of the Center for American Women in Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University. Panelists included: New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey Senator M. Teresa Ruiz, and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. The event concluded with powerful performances from poet Susanna Rich and professional storyteller Queen Nur. View a full recording here.
Tu Voto 2020: Voting in New Jersey
NJ Women Vote, in partnership with the NJ Center for Hispanic Policy Research and Development, held free virtual panel about preparing to vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Friday, October 9, 2020. A panel of experts answered questions about voter registration, the 2020 voting process, and why it is so important to place your ballot. The panel was offered in English and Spanish. Panelists included Wendy S. Martinez, Government Policy and Political Strategist, Iveth Mosquera, Board Director, League of Women Voters of New Jersey, and Juan Carlos Nordelo, Legislative Director, New Jersey Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez.
NJ Women Vote Quarterly Meetings
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Wednesday, September 9, 2020