Browse Items (26 total)

The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia was founded in 1909 in Richmond. Members of the league sought to win the right to vote for women. A this time, many men—and women—believed that voting women were a threat to marriage and families because…

This portrait of Mary Willing Byrd (1740–1814) was painted early in the 1770s by artist Matthew Pratt. Born in Philadelphia, she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and a god-daughter of Benjamin Franklin. In 1761 she married William Byrd…

By the 1870s, bicycles and tricycles using wire-spoked wheels were common, particularly in England. Albert A. Pope became the first American bicycle manufacturer under the trade name “Columbia” in Connecticut in 1878.The popularity of bicycles in…

Women served in many capacities during the American Revolution. Thousands of women traveled with their husbands when they served in the Continental Army. Known as "camp followers," they marched with the supply wagons, set up camps nearby. These women…

For a significant portion of American history, women were not allowed to vote. Although they were considered citizens, voting was considered a privilege and not a right and thus not extended to women. In the the 19th century, a small number of women…

Richmond native Lila Meade Valentine (1865-1921) devoted much of her life to advocating reforms in public education and health care. She also supported voting rights for women and she co-founded the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in 1909. Serving…

As women participated in the movement to abolish slavery during the first half of the 19th century, some of them also began to advocate for women's rights. In July 1848, a group of women and men held a convention in Seneca Falls, New York. They…

Like many “race leaders” in the early 20th century, Maggie L. Walker rose to prominence from modest beginnings as a result of her intellect, education, and business acumen. Her mother was a formerly enslaved woman and her father had served in the…

World War I brought about great shifts in American society. As the war began, women were not allowed to vote or serve in military combat roles. As the nation was gripped by war, the entire population mobilized to produce weapons and supplies for the…

Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan, the powerful paramount chief of the Algonquin Indians in eastern Virginia, which the Indigenous Virginians called Tsenacomoco. She was about eleven years old when the English colonists arrived in 1607.…