A Newberry Library and Chicago Historical Society Exhibit: October 1, 2004, to January 15, 2005

		Claiming Human Rights: Sex and Citizenship   We are sex slaves, bound by law and custom, to social usages that we are learning to despise.                         May Walden Kerr, from Socialism and the Home, c. 1904   In the nineteenth century, women were second-class citizens. Married women were barred from many professions, they could not serve on juries, and they often lacked the right to control their own property. Over the course of the nineteenth century, women challenged their exclusions head on, securing reforms in marriage laws, taking their place in public life through voluntary organizations, and struggling for the right to vote. Women throughout the nation won the right to vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Although this did not overturn all limits on women�s rights, the generations that fought for equality under the law opened the door for later activists to advance the struggle for human rights.

This exhibit has been organized by the Newberry Library's Dr. William M. Scholl Center for Family and Community History and the Chicago Historical Society. It has been made possible with major funding provided in part by The Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning. Generous support also provided by The Chicago Reader and Dr. and Mrs. Tapas K. Das Gupta.