Sophie Masloff program to kick off women’s history initiative

Paul Guggenheimer | Tuesday, February 18, 2020 3:06 p.m.

Tribune-Review

Sophie Masloff in October 2008, at the Duquesne Club.

The Senator John Heinz History Center is presenting an evening dedicated to the late Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff to open its celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

“Sophie: The Incomparable Mayor Masloff” is set for March 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. The evening will feature selections from Barbara Burstin’s recently released biography and rarely seen materials from Masloff’s archive.

Other programs include the premiere of a new documentary honoring the 100th anniversary of the suffragist movement, “Trailblazers of the Suffrage Movement” from 5:30 to 8 p.m. March 8, as well as the locally produced documentary “Women of Steel” from 7 to 9 p.m. March 19.

From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on May 7, “Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence” will explore the history and complexity of the national suffrage movement. And on June 20, “Cooking Up History with Ashley Rose Young” will look at female entrepreneurship through the lens of family food heritage.

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American women gained the right to vote when the 19th Amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920. It prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens on the basis of sex.

As part of the centennial celebration, Heinz History Center will honor history-making Pittsburgh women with public programs, museum displays and digital storytelling throughout the year.

They include journalist Nellie Bly, an Armstrong County native who traveled the world in a record-breaking 72 days; pioneering jazz musician Mary Lou Williams and abolitionist Jane Grey Swisshelm.