The story of Rhode Island is filled with the stories of groundbreaking women. We share these stories in many ways, including in our publications and our social media accounts. This month, we are sharing a list of resources including programs, educational tools, and articles to highlight the important women who have changed Rhode Island and the world.

This page will continue to be updated throughout the month of March. If you have suggestions of resources to be added to this page, please email communications@rihs.org.

Programs • Reading Lists • Community
Partners • Tools for Educators

  • Lunch & Learn – Women’s History Month 2024: The Paradox of Progress: Join the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce for a lunch & learn on Tuesday, March 5 from 12-1pm. This lunch and learn is facilitated by Donna Rustigian Mac, President of iVoice Communication. In this discussion, attendees will discuss what it means to be a strong leader in 2024 and beyond, as well as if progress has stagnated.

  • Women Trailblazers in Music: Join the Rhode Island Philharmonic on Sunday, March 10, at 7:30pm, for a concert honoring women trailblazers in music, featuring Judith Lynn Stillman, Artistic Director and Pianist, with Charles Dimmick, Brent Selby, Ian Greitzer, Rachel Braude, Becky Bass, Mia Douglas, Jess Huetteman, Teresa Eickel.

  • Rhode Island Heritage Quilt: Celebrating the Legacy of Black Women: Join the RIHS on Tuesday, March 12 at 7pm for a virtual talk with Maryland-based textile artist and quilter Sandra Smith on her work the Celebration of Rhode Island Heritage, a quilt designed for Roger Williams University honoring people of African American heritage who lived and worked in Rhode Island. Smith will particularly focus on the stories of Black women and her process for creating the quilt.

  • Outspoken: Untold Stories – Women’s History Month: Join Venture Cafe Providence on Thursday, March 21, from 6-7:30pm, for an interactive session in honor of Women’s History Month aimed at celebrating the diverse stories of powerful women who help shape our families, communities, and nation; all while running their own businesses. Participants will watch a short documentary, then do a walk-through of an interactive gala of photography and narratives. Participants will then convene to pose intimate questions to the women highlighted.

  • Women Warriors, Women’s Voices: Join the Providence Athenaeum on Friday, March 22, from 5:30-6:30pm, as women from across Rhode Island will share their experiences as service members and veterans through poems, stories, essays, and readings.

  • Mary Williams and Anne Hutchinson: From England to Rhode Island: Join the RIHS on Wednesday, March 27 at 6pm, as Dr. Charlotte Carrington-Farmer dives into the legacies of Mary Williams and Anne Hutchinson, who made significant contributions to Rhode Island history. Hutchinson helped find Portsmouth after her dramatic banishment from Massachusetts Bay, and Williams confirmed vital land evidence for Providence.

  • Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch: Visit the RISD Museum to see the works of Afro-Indigenous artist Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, the college’s first documented graduate of color. Throughout her career, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet sought artistic recognition through a solo exhibition of her work. This presentation realizes that vision, assembling the entirety of her existing sculptures and works on paper and providing photographic documentation of sculptures that are lost or were destroyed. This Exhibit is on view until July 28, 2024.

  • Unfinished Business: Visit the Newport Art Museum to see this new exhibition featuring important works of art from the Museum’s collection by people who identify as women. Over the past several years, the Newport Art Museum has endeavored to increase representation of women in its permanent collection. Whereas women artists once comprised less than half of the contemporary collection, they now represent seventy-percent. These works were acquired to support the Museum’s mission, which is “to share a diversity of art and experiences that spark reflection, inspiration, discovery, and connections within our Newport community and beyond.” This Exhibit is on view until May 26, 2024.

  • Library of Congress Women’s History Month Website: The Library of Congress website honoring Women’s History Month includes online information from the National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

  • Encompass- Women’s Suffrage in Rhode Island: Explore the history of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Rhode Island with essays and primary sources, along with lesson plans and additional materials, including video clips and oral histories.