A Voice of Her Own: South Carolina Women in Politics is a new exhibit at the South Carolina State Museum celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment passing, which gave women the right to vote. "One of the things we all wanted people to take away from this exhibit about women's history was that women are not a flock of birds; they don't go in a single line and all think together," says JoAnn Zeise, Curator of Cultural History at the South Carolina State Museum.
When putting together the exhibition Zeise pulled the majority of the objects from the museum's permanent collection, and is re-examining them through the lens of "herstory." These objects include a “Votes for Women” banner that was owned by suffragette and University of South Carolina student Shirley Black, and a suit worn by 116th governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley.
"We wanted people to realize the fight to get women the vote and get women participating in politics here in the state was not a foregone conclusion; it was not easy to do/ All these women didn't work together. It was a long fight, and one we are still engaged in. We have yet to have a larger representation of women in state politics. We hope that it [the exhibit] inspires people to continue and build on what the others have done," says Zeise. A Voice of Her Own is currently on view at the South Carolina State Museum through September 27.