X
Book Online
Book Online
Area // Rockford Northeast

Rockford Women's Suffrage Plaza

Booking Dates & Rate

and
Overview
Rates by Date
Yelp

The Women’s Suffrage Centennial Sculpture is Rockford’s first public art installation honoring women’s leadership and activism. It was created to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of women’s gaining the right to vote. With the help of over 200 community volunteers, it was dedicated on October 31, 2020. The three-sided composition tells an inclusive, fact-based history, featuring Rockford suffragist Kate F. O’Connor, Rockford voting rights activist Dr. Constance Goode, and Future Voters. The ratification of the 19th Amendment, on August 18, 1920, prohibited the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of gender. White women were the first women able to vote without legal barriers and extreme discrimination (O’Connor). Only when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed — a landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in voting — could women of color exercise their right to vote (Goode). The group of diverse girls represent our future women voters and activists. The surrounding benches create a “sense of place” and include important landmarks, celebrated landscapes and familiar places unique to Rockford. The Rockford Women’s Suffrage Plaza is located at the Riverfront of the YMCA, 200 Y Boulevard, Rockford. To arrange a Docent led tour, please email WSC2020rockford@gmail.com. School age to adult groups are welcome and the WSC2020 Committee will respond via email.