The interactive digital exhibition gallery is celebrating its anniversary after opening in September 2022. The gallery is the flagship of the Jane Nelson Institute for Women’s Leadership, which is dedicated to preparing more women for leadership roles in politics, public service and business.
Curator Elizabeth Qualia said the gallery showcases Texan women from diverse backgrounds whose work shaped public policy. The gallery is one of the first of such exhibits in Texas and among the first of its kind in the U.S., according to the Institute’s website.
“Being able to really showcase these women lifts up our students and our community,” she said. “[It shows] young women and young men that if they put their minds to it, even if they face barriers, they can definitely get through them and have whatever impact it is they want to have on their communities.”
Visiting the curation is free and open to the public for anyone to learn about the history of Texas and what women have done to help the state grow.
Qualia said there are women featured in the gallery who are very well-known, such as Lady Bird Johnson and Laura Bush, as well as leaders including Jovita Idar, Martha Kotera, and Martha Wong who may not have the same name recognition, but also made major impacts.
“All of these women had a lasting impact on politics and public policy, and not just for the state—nationally and internationally in some cases,” she said. “They really embody what it takes to be a leader, and even though they’re different people, the common thread in all their stories is that they had to overcome being a woman in a male-centered world to do what they wanted to do.”
These leaders are pioneers—women who were first to break barriers in politics, policy and civil rights, Qualia said.
Within the gallery, there are four featured exhibits guests won’t want to miss:
- Pioneering Women
- 2018 Election: Women Make History
- The Civics Learning Center
- Minnie Fisher Cunningham: Texas Suffragist
Learn about 12 Texas women from diverse backgrounds who discovered their passions and channeled their Texas grit to make a lasting impact on politics and public service.
In this exhibit, touchscreens help visitors to learn about the women featured. Texas Voter screens assist visitors in registering to vote or finding their elected officials, and the Rising Star interactive podium allows guests to read excerpts from speeches of the women featured and see themselves as the next rising star.
2018 Election: Women Make History
This exhibit features non-incumbent women who ran for office in Texas during the historic 2018 midterm election—a year with an unprecedented number of women running. Highlights include a Texas counties map with more than 200 Texas women who contributed to the history of the state, and a display commemorating 17 African-American women elected as judges in Harris County in 2018.
“Historic moments came out of that election, including a record number of women being elected to the US House that year,” Qualia said. “I think sometimes it gets a little bit forgotten, but it was a big deal [then] and it still is a big deal.”
Civics Learning Center
In the Civics Learning Center, visitors can learn about Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981. Through iCivics, a nonprofit founded by O’Connor, guests can play Counties Work Texas, an interactive game where players can select a character, create a county and help their citizens complete their tasks.
Despite her status as a household name today, O’Connor was breaking glass ceilings at the time of her appointment and was concerned about how her legacy could affect women in politics in the future.
“She knew she had to do a great job, because she felt if she didn’t, women who came after her might not get the same opportunity,” Qualia said. “Many women in positions like that have said similar things—they felt they couldn’t let other women down.
Minnie Fisher Cunningham: Texas Suffragist
In the suffrage exhibit, guests can learn about Texas native Minnie Fisher Cunningham, a key leader of women’s suffrage.
Cunningham was president of the Texas Equality Suffrage Association and was able to get a primary suffrage bill passed in 1918, which allowed women to vote in primary elections, even though they could not vote in the general election.
“It’s the most amazing thing,” Qualia said. “She got the bill passed 17 days before the primary election, and all of the women in the Suffrage Association worked together to get women registered. They were able to get over a thousand women registered to vote in the primary election in 17 days, which is just incredible.”
Her efforts led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which legally granted women the right to vote in the United States. Visitors can also learn about Maude Sampson and Christia Adair’s contributions to suffrage and the fact that they were barred from the Suffrage Association.
“As a reminder, even though the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, there were still barriers that a lot of people had to face and find workarounds for decades afterwards,” Qualia said.
These exhibits are not only important for students on the TWU campus, but for the state of Texas as a whole. The gallery compiles achievements of hundreds of women who were pivotal in advancing women’s leadership in the state, and is a crucial piece of Texas history.
“The University’s mission statement is, ‘educate a woman, empower the world’, and this is just another way of educating people,” Qualia said. “We hope people are inspired by these stories and can take something away to start discussions within their own daughters about what they can do.”
The gallery is located on the Texas Woman’s University Denton campus in the historic Old Main building. The grand entrance features a replica of Winged Victory of Samothrace created for TWU at the Louvre in Paris. The hours for the gallery are Tues. through Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and by appointment.
To schedule a tour, contact the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at [email protected] or 940-898-4573. To discuss the possibility of loaning an item to the exhibit, contact Elizabeth Qualia [email protected] or 940-898-2459.
Visit the links to learn more about the Sue S. Bancroft Women’s Leadership Hall, the Jane Nelson Institute for Women’s Leadership and Texas Woman’s University.
The above story was produced by Summer El-Shahawy with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.
