The future (and past) is female

Lighting the Way offers free professional development workshops for educators, such as this one in 2019 titled, “Amplifying History: Learning from the Lives of Women.”

by Michael J. DeCicco

Many women throughout South Coast history have been inspirational role models in the march to empower future generations of womanhood.

THAT’S ONE OF THE MAIN IDEAS behind the “Lighting the Way: Historic Women of South Coast” program, now midway through its second full year of public activities at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

The biographies of 70-100 women who have had a historical impact on the South Coast, from political and labor activists to educators, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, are being

featured on the museum’s website. To emphasize the significance of their stories, museum workshops are highlighting their accomplishments and looking to inspire the current generation of women to follow in their footsteps.

Project coordinator Cathy Saunders explained that this year marks the 100th Anniversary of Congress ratifying the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which made it illegal to

prevent a woman from voting based on her sex. “Lighting the Way,” she said, “marks the centennial of women’s suffrage by revealing the previously untold stories of women who have contributed to our history.”

The website teaches, for instance, that the daughter of noted slavery abolitionist orator Frederick Douglass, Rosetta Douglass, became an abolitionist as well as an author and orator in her own right, starting in New Bedford. It was whaling merchant Jonathan Bourne’s daughter, philanthropist Emily Howland Bourne, who gifted to the Old Dartmouth Historical Society the original whaling museum building and the half-scale model of the whaling bark Lagoda that it houses.

Women’s march

Activities within the museum itself will amplify these lessons. On March 12 from 6-8 p.m., A Youth Showcase of art inspired by historic women of the South Coast will celebrate local young artists as they share their work inspired by the women and themes highlighted in Lighting the Way. As of this writing, the artists that will be participating are currently being recruited, and their work will range from painting to poetry to sculptures.

On April 18, from 1:30-3 p.m., a forum titled “Lighting the Way to Equality” will be presented in partnership with the New Bedford YWCA. Historian and author Melanie Gustafson will lead a panel discussion on “women’s struggle for political inclusion, the changing meanings of gender, and how these factors influenced ideas and structures shaping democratic citizenship.” The forum will include four local panelists addressing women’s issues in the region.

This discussion will be followed by a Resource Fair from 3-5 p.m. Local organizations will be available at tables set under a tent outside the museum entrance to allow participants to register to vote, learn about the 2020 Census or just sign up to volunteer in the community.

From June to September, new Lighting the Way Walking Tours will begin. These will be free 60-minute guided tours through downtown New Bedford twice a month led by New Bedford Whaling Museum docents and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park rangers. The tours will highlight the stories of New Bedford women who were politically engaged by stopping where they lived or at spots that symbolize their revolutionary work.

Meanwhile, between late March through April, Lighting the Way for All will be an online voting campaign the program is sponsoring. During this time, Saunders said, community members can participate in online voting on which Lighting the Way women will be featured in a public art project that will be launched on August 26. Saunders noted this date has been chosen for a very specific reason. August 26 is Women’s Equality Day, the anniversary of the day that the 19th amendment was ratified.

The amendment recognized the right for women to vote, she said, “but they still have a long way to go. That is why one of our goals is civic engagement.”

The museum’s Director of Education Christina Turner explained that the program as a whole is a detailed look at where the women’s empowerment movement of today came from. “It’s an opportunity to reflect and an examination of the work still left to be done,” she said.

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