UNDEFEATED is a hybrid virtual and physical exhibit, check out our exhibit offerings.
Lead Curator: Sally Brown Deskins, MA, Exhibits Coordinator, WVU Libraries, sally.brown1@mail.wvu.edu
Lead Designer: Eve Faulkes
Online Exhibit Designer: Travis Williamson
A series of virtual programs, in collaboration with the Morgantown Chapter of the National Organization for Women, will continue through the semester including presentations by storyteller Ilene Evans performing as suffragist Coralie Franklin Cook and Atiba Ellis, Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School on democracy, voting, and race. Schedule will be updated on the Virtual Programs page.
Exhibit Sponsors
Lead Exhibit Sponsors: WVU Libraries, WVU Humanities Center, WVU Faculty Senate Community Engagement Grant
Exhibits and Events Sponsor: Reed College of Media
Exhibit Sponsors: WVU Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; WVU Council for Women's Concerns; WVU Loulie, Valerie and William Canady College of Creative Arts; West Virginia Humanities Council
Supporters of WVU Libraries: Adventure West Virginia; Arts Monongahela; Catherine Wilson Jones; MPB Print and Sign Superstore
About: WVU Libraries' third major collaborative exhibition, Undefeated comes on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution (granting women the right to vote), and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (enforcing voting rights for racial minorities). Undefeated examines the political process with special attention to efforts to suppress the votes of women and minorities since 1920.
An advisory committee (listed below) contribute the educational content and, with the Art in the Libraries committee, juried the artwork organized in themes: Information/Disinformation; Access/Intimidation; Legislation/Legal Questions; Voter Fraud; and Advocacy/Action. The artists used the template of the campaign button as an individual canvas and responded to the voter suppression themes, in the mass media format of a button design. The artwork, from artists and designers nationwide, will be complemented by textual educational content around subtopics on voter suppression, and designed into an exhibit. Select designs will be printed and made into buttons and/or stickers. The exhibit will be archived on The Research Repository at WVU. These grants allow for the printing and installation of this exhibit, a very important and largest budget piece of this project.
Exhibit Advisory Committee
Joseph Cohen, Executive Director, ACLU of West Virginia
Johanna Winant, NOW Morgantown
Kitty Dooley, attorney, Charleston
Danielle Emerling, Curator, Congressional and Political Papers, WVU Libraries
Marjorie Fuller, Director, WVU Center for Black Culture and Research
Natalie Tennant, former WV Secretary of State
Karen Kunz, professor, WVU Department of Public Administration
Eve Faulkes, Professor, Graphic Design, WVU School of Art & Design
Meshea Poore, Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, WVU
Mike Slaven, Professor, Department of History, Politics, Society, and Law, California University of Pennsylvania
Jonathan Rosenbaum, President of the League of Women Voters of West Virginia
Charlotte Hoelke, Lecturer, Center for Women's and Gender Studies, WVU
Lindsay Nielson, Researcher, Public Policy Evaluation, Fors Marsh Group
WVU Libraries is proudly part of a statewide network of celebrations honoring the centennial for women's suffrage. Design by Colleen Anderson.
WVU Libraries is part of several national initiatives celebrating the centennial, including:
- Feminist Art Coalition: Read the Smithsonian's article here.
- Women's Vote Centennial
- 2020 Centennial
- Resources for Inspiration/Information
- West Virginia Suffragists: An Online Exhibit Exploring Suffrage in the Mountain State