This month, the Freeman Store and Museum launched two new exhibits on women’s suffrage and Vienna’s history that will remain on display throughout the rest of the year.
The first of the two exhibits, The Women’s Rights Movement in 1917, chronicles the suffrage movement and the National Woman’s Party’s efforts to secure voting rights leading up to the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The exhibit documents biographies of key women involved in the movement, their organized protests and subsequent arrests and poor prison conditions for women. Specifically, the exhibit includes a history of the Night of Terror in the Occoquan Prison in Virginia in November 1917. The event occurred after the Silent Sentinels—a group of women protesters led by Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party who were vying for the right to vote—picketed the White House against President Woodrow Wilson. The women were arrested, taken to Occoquan Workhouse and released a few days later. However, after their release, the women resumed protests outside the White House and were again arrested and taken to Occoquan, where they were beaten by guards and the superintendent in what became known as the Night of Terror.
The Women’s Rights Movement in 1917, located on the first floor of the Freeman Store, is the second in a five-year series on the suffrage movement at the museum. The first took place last year and covered suffrage prior to the Civil War. Those visiting the Freeman Store’s current women’s history exhibit can take a photo with a replica of the purple-and-white sash many suffragists wore alongside a life-size cut-out of Alice Paul.
The Freeman Store’s other new exhibit, Vienna’s History Through Time, arrives in time for Fairfax County’s 275th anniversary. Visitors can walk through the physical timeline located on the second floor that notes moments of local, state and national significance in the town’s history. The exhibit includes photos, newspaper clippings, drawings, reproductions and original artifacts. Included in the timeline is a history of the county’s first courthouse and the Virginia vote for secession.
Both exhibits will remain at the Freeman Store throughout 2017. Visitors can see them during the museum’s hours from noon-4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. // 131 Church St. NE, Vienna
