Images | The 19th Amendment: A History of Women's Rights on Campus

Historic Photographs Collection, stgi03 One of the 1st students of the Normal School, Eleanor Beatrice Marable, fall 1909

1910 Schoolma’am The graduating class of 1910.

Historic Photograph Collection, stgi12 Student Anna Lewis (Class of 1918) sporting a middy blouse, necktie, and wool skirt c. 1914.

Historic Photograph Collection, stge104 Female students wearing the common middy blouse, necktie, and wool skirt in their dorm room c. 1914.

“Young Women Enlist Now!” c. 1918 Ephemera of the Young Women’s Christian Association Collection

Schoolma’am, 1918 Carrie Bishop (Class of 1918) was one of the only students we found directly associated with suffrage. Both her yearbook bio and ephemera left in her school scrapbook give clues on the attitudes towards suffrage at the Normal school.

Schoolma’am, 1918 The Executive Board of the Student Association is shown, many wearing the common student outfit of middy blouse, necktie, and wool skirt.

Schoolma’am, 1918 Students from the Normal School and Augusta Military Academy march in the Liberty Loan Parade supporting WWI in 1918

Carrie Bishop (Class of 1918) scrapbook ephemera

Kathleen Harless Collection The “gymnasium” in Science (now Moody) Hall

Schoolma’am, 1919 Yearbook illustration of student raising the flag in WWI era marching Normal School marching uniform

Schoolma’am, 1919 Students of the Normal School are shown in their full marching regalia and formation. The background building is the old Rockingham Memorial Hospital, now part of JMU’s Student Success Center.

Schoolma’am, 1921 A yearbook comic depicting a different kind of “votes for women,” only one year post the 19th Amendment’s ratification.

Schoolma’am, 1927 This quote was acknowledged as the professed student body motto from the institution’s early days. Taken from Psalm 144:12 of the Bible, this quote reflects the school’s vision of introducing students to the world through a respectable and firm foundation.

Crystal Theodore, dressed in her military uniform. Theodore founded the Madison Caucus for Gender Equality along with Prof. Frances Cavanaugh. Theodore, as a Professor Emerita of Art, served on the JMU faculty for 26 years, was head of the art department for many years and retired in 1983. During World War II, Theodore served as a Marine Corps intelligence officer.

Schoolma’am, 1928 Student Hilda Page Blue (Class of 1928) wearing a cloche hat.

Schoolma’am, 1938 Women’s basketball team posed wearing cloche hats.

Schoolma’am, 1954 Student Virginia Brown is shown wearing a similar A-line style dress to the one in our exhibit.

Schoolma’am, 1958 This photo of Junior Class Officers from the 1958 yearbook depicts the common daily dress of female students.

Schoolma’am, 1966 Sheary Darcus, first African-American student at Madison College as a freshman in 1966

Historic Photograph Collection, stge204 Female student sporting bell-bottoms c. 1969.

Bluestone, c.1970 Posters on campus advocating for the National Organization for Women

Bluestone, 1970 Sheary Darcus (Class of 1970)

Jane Fonda speaking on campus, 1971

The Bluestone, 1976 Suffragette Reenactment March

Poster advertising the 8th National NOW Conference Ephemera of the Patricia Chalfont Collection

“We the People…Are Greater Than Fear,” 2017 Shepard Fairey Courtesy of Dr. AJ Morey Shepard Fairey is a graphic designer renowned for his political and social activism. He created the iconic Barack Obama “Hope” posters for the 2008 Presidential Election. His “We the People” series was designed in response to the 2016 Presidential Election rhetoric of Donald Trump. Portraits of African Americans, Latinas, Muslims, and Native Americans are depicted in Fairey’s trademark style, and have become emblems of contemporary diversity and civil rights.