Cambridge Women's Heritage Project (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

05/20/2021

THIS THURSDAY! Do you know the feminist history of Cambridge's community spaces from the 1970s-1990s? On May 20, come learn more about the Cambridge Women’s Commission, YWCA Cambridge, Bread and Roses, and Marquee Bar (there hasn't been a women's bar in Cambridge or Boston in decades!) Register: https://cambridgema.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcpcuyuqTMtGN3AByAVYIXk5MITDZ55CMTA

01/06/2021

Tomorrow at 12pm, register in advance!

Please join us this Thursday, January 7, for a lunchtime discussion on COVID-19's Economic and Social Impact on Women in Massachusetts

10/19/2020

Since 1901, only 12 poets have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and only of those poets two were women. Last week, the Swedish Academy awarded American poet and Cambridge resident Louise Glück the Nobel Prize in Literature. Glück is one of the amazing women featured in our the Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project. She has published 12 collections of poetry and received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Bollingen Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Humanities Medal. She is the first American female poet to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Congratulations to her and all of this year’s winners, including astronomer and black hole hunter Andrea Ghez, a 1987 MIT graduate and this year’s Nobel Prize winner in Physics for her work with Reinhard Genzel on the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of the Milky Way.
Photos of Louise Glück by Katherine Wolkoff. Photo of Milky Way Central Region by European Southern Observatory/Nogueras-Lara et al.

09/28/2020

RSVP here! eventbrite.com/e/bringing-cambridge-womens-heritage-to-life-with-radio-drama-tickets-121428444747

Tuesday, October 13...
Calling all fans of detectives, suffragists, mediums, bootleggers, secret society members, movie directors, journalists, civil rights advocates, labor organizers, and vaudeville impresarios!

Siobhan Bredin, author of "Casebook of the Marshall Sisters Detective Agency: Nine Roaring Twenties Mystery Play Scripts", will lead a discussion on the history and mystery of radio drama, all through the lens of Cambridge women's history. Inspired by historical figures in Cambridge, the fictional Marshall Sisters work for social justice by solving cases alongside a quirky cast of characters.
RSVP!! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bringing-cambridge-womens-heritage-to-life-with-radio-drama-tickets-121428444747
7-8pm via zoom

07/31/2020

Cambridge Women's Commission is hosting a Summer Series, Wednesday August 5 and August 12 at 7pm. Here's the link to register for the first one, and the link for the second event is in the comments. I'll repost it next week! Hope to see everyone there! If you are interested in women's history and love Cambridge, please join us! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lifting-up-cambridge-womxns-history-out-of-the-archives-into-the-streets-tickets-114796998914

07/26/2020

What does the right to vote mean to you? This year we have been looking at the woman suffrage movement and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment one hundred years ago. It wasn’t the end of a movement for universal voting rights but an important milestone in that movement that continues to this day. Many Cambridge women made their voices heard, some becoming politically active for the first time. How should they be remembered? What is the role of public art in initiating conversation and inspiring political engagement in our community?

Your input on a permanent public artwork to commemorate the centennial of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and to recognize the ongoing struggle for voting rights for all.

The City of Cambridge's 19th Amendment Centennial Art Selection Committee will be considering four proposals. The winning selection will be constructed at Cambridge Common. During this historic moment in which public art has become a focal point for necessary debate on how we as a country want to be represented in public spaces, we invite you to participate in the process for a new public artwork. Your voice makes a difference.

Review the four proposals online and submit your feedback to the Selection Committee by Aug. 3, 2020. https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/CityManagersOffice/100years/NineteenthAmendmentCentennialCommittee

Cambridge is celebrating the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment and recognizing the women in Cambridge who fought tirelessly for women’s right to vote.

07/23/2020

Repost from Instagram. During the month of July, we are taking the time to celebrate artists of color who have brought life to public spaces in Cambridge.

Today, we are highlighting Valerie Imparato and her mural on the Harvard Square Kiosk, recently taken over by CultureHouse.

Valerie Imparato is originally from Haiti but has lived all over the world. Valerie attended Law School after college and due to stress, she began having sleeping issues, but painting helped her cope. She started painting on a regular basis, filling her tiny Cambridge apartment with her work. To offload the growing collection, she decided to start showing and selling her pieces. Fast forward to a few years later and she is both a practicing lawyer and an artist. Valerie’s aesthetic draws from the diverse cultural influences in her upbringing, with an emphasis on East-African and Caribbean art. She hopes to make art that inspires dialogue on issues of Faith, Race, immigration, feminism, and the plight of the oppressed. Her most recent work is focused on the Black Woman and all of the identities folded within the intersectionality of blackness and womanhood, seen in her recent Harvard Square mural. Regarding her mural at the Harvard Square Kiosk, Valerie notes, “I hope [my mural] catches the eye of little kids, little black kids in particular, and that they see themselves. I hope that it makes Black people feel seen, and helps non-Black people see us”. With racial and ethnic disparities being brought to the forefront in American society, having a mural of three black women, painted by a black woman, in one of the most iconic and affluent commercial areas in America is a powerful statement in itself. Be sure to check out Valerie’s other work on her Instagram and advocate for diversity in public art in Cambridge and beyond! Photo of Valerie in front of mural courtesy of CultureHouse and , photo of Valerie by and photo of mural by (websites of VP Visual Art and Katytarika linked in comments).