RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — March is Women’s History Month and the next time you visit the North Carolina Museum of History, there’s one exhibit you won’t want to miss.
It’s called “You Have to Start a Thing.”
The exhibit explores how North Carolinian women and men fought for – and against – women’s suffrage leading up to 1920.
Chief curator RaeLana Poteat says the quote is from Lillian Exum Clement, North Carolina’s first female legislator.
“She said something along the lines of, ‘I know that someday there will be many more women in politics, but you have to start a thing,'” Poteat said.
Visitors can watch life-size videos of actors portraying suffragists and anti-suffragists using the words and opinions of real people, taken from actual newspaper articles, propaganda, speeches, and letters between the 1890s and 1920.
The exhibit also chronicles the continued fight for women’s rights and inclusion in North Carolina.
To learn more about the exhibit and museum hours, click here.
