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Bienvenidos

LOS ANGELES – Heritage Square Museum's latest exhibit Their Rights and Nothing Less: A Celebration of Women's Suffragewill open on June 19th and runsthrough September 26th.Complete with original, rarely-seen ephemera from the early years of the suffrage movement, a special section of the exhibit will be dedicated entirely to the efforts ofwomen in Los Angeles who led the fight for equality 9 years before its ratification at the National level.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution giving women the right for women to vote. More accurately, the language does not reference women in the affirmative; what it does is not deny the right to vote based upon gender.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The 19th Amendment was proposed on June 4. 1919. Ratification was completed on August 18, 1920 by Tennessee, by a one-vote margin. It was certified on August 26, 1920.

Of course, the fight for women's rights began much, much earlier. In 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects was published by Mary Wollstonecraft, which responded to an issue even more basic and immediate than voting rights—the right—indeed the necessity for women to receive an education. Although almost inconceivable to think of now, this was considered a radical position which provoked a dramatic, although not necessarily negative, response. Starting with this simple idea, women have been fighting for equal rights ever since.

Curated by Mitzi March Mogul, Their Rights and Nothing Less takes a critical look at the incredible effort it took to gain that right and includes original artifacts from the early years of the struggle. In addition, the exhibit continues after the vote was won to look at critical issues fought and won by the women's rights movement after. Including ephemera and artifacts from a never-before-seen private collection, the exhibit is a must for every woman...and man. The exhibit is made possible thanks to sponsors Planned Parenthood of Pasadena, 9 to 5-the National Association of Working Women, Bob Taylor Properties and the Glendale Printing Center.

Celebrating 41 years preserving and interpreting the history of Southern California, Heritage Square is a living history museum whose eight historic structuresto tell the story of the development of Los Angeles like noplace else. Heritage Square Museum is open for regular tours Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM. The exhibit is included in the museum's admission fee: $10/adults, $8/seniors, $5/children ages 6-12.

The Museum is located at 3800 Homer Street, off the 110 Pasadena Freeway at Avenue 43, just north of downtown Los Angeles. For further information, visit our website at http://www.heritagesquare.org/ or the museum blog at http://heritagesquare.blogspot.com.

An excerpt – the Story of Olive Percival

On July 19th, Heritage Square Museum will debut Their Rights and Nothing Less: Commemorating the 90th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage. The exhibt highlights several examples of women, (some you may have heard of and some who you have not) who led the fight for women's rights.
Olive Percival is one such story.

Like so many others, Olive Percival, her mother, and sister were lured to Southern California by the temperate climate, as well as the opportunities it presented. She was born in a log cabin; her father died when she was only ten years old.

Although Olive lived on a relatively modest salary (which never exceeded $150 a month), she managed to buy land in the Arroyo Seco, where she built a home called "Down-hyl Claim.” Down-hyl Claim was the setting for frequent gatherings by local and visit celebrity authors, artists, actors, society leaders, professionals and intellectuals and her diaries, which date from 1889 to 1943 are a chronicle of this life and read like a Who's Who of important residents of Los Angeles.

Olive began her writing career in 1896 and is probably best known for her 1911 "Children's Garden Book.” She eventually became a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, writing on subjects ranging from women's suffrage to gardening. In 1910, following the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building by anarchists, she wrote an article entitled "Would Woman's Vote Suppress Anarchy?” in which she made the persuasive case that for America to be truly democratic, liberty must be granted to all.