The Museum of the American Revolution

A Philadelphia museum is looking back on a lesser-known moment in suffrage history as a prelude to the present.

The Museum of the American Revolution’s new exhibition, “When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story, 1776 – 1807,” delves into the period when women and free people of color were legally entitled to vote in Revolutionary New Jersey. It also explores the political realities that led to those rights being stripped away in 1807.

The exhibit, which runs through April 25, 2021, is integrated into the museum’s core galleries and is connected by an audio tour.

The exhibit touts more than 65 original objects — textiles, manuscripts and works of art — that help tell what the museum describes as the forgotten stories of the women who first pioneered the right to vote.

Also included are several recently discovered poll lists uncovered by the museum’s curatorial team. An extensive look at voter records revealed poll lists that feature the names of 163 female voters and four Black male voters.

“Prior to this discovery, little proof of women or people of color voting during this period was known to exist,” Alex McKechnie, the museum’s communications director, said in a press release.

Read the full article here.