Salute to Women's History

by Abigail Knowles Wolfe (BPRW)

March is National Women’s History Month here in the United States, celebrating the remarkable, historic achievements American women have made and working to ensure that this history will be recognized and celebrated in a number of forums. Knowledge of women’s history, especially the struggle for civil rights, including the right to vote, provides a more substantial look at the injustices women have had to face and overcome and a clear vision of what women can do in the future.

The theme for the 2008 observance of Women’s History Month is “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision,” celebrating great women in the visual arts field from a variety of backgrounds to “honor the originality, beauty, imagination, and multiple dimensions of women’s lives.” The goals of this years’ National Women’s History Month art campaign is to honor the accomplishments of female artists acclaimed in their time yet too often written out of history. “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision,” will ensure that these women’s accomplishments are not forgotten.

Of the dozen or so artists included in the 2008 Honorees two African American artists, painter and quilter Faith Ringgold (1930) and artist and photographer Lorna Simpson (1960) are included. Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem, New York and is best known for her large, painted story quilts. Ringgold developed her painting technique after studying in Europe in the early 1960s. The more contemporary Lorna Smith made a name for herself in the 1980s and 1990s with photography installations often depicting black women combined with text to convey modern-day society’s relationship with race, ethnicity and gender. Both are African American, women artists in high esteem.

This perspective should serve to encourage young girls and women to see the big picture of women’s history and to dream big dreams for their lives. Furthermore, women’s history strives to give men and boys a better and fuller understanding of the female experience and the dynamic contributions women have made throughout time that is often left out of the history books.