A BSR guide to Women’s History Month 2018 in Philly

March is National Women’s History Month and in Philadelphia, museums, theaters, galleries, and other cultural institutions are marking the month with events highlighting the often-overlooked achievements and contributions of both historic and contemporary American women. If your favorite arts or cultural venue isn’t highlighting Women’s History Month this year, encourage them to get on board for 2019! For now, here’s a BSR guide to some great programming.

The Museum of the American Revolution asks what role gender identity played during the American Revolution. Come learn about a real woman, Deborah Sampson, who in 1782 dressed as a man to fight in the Continental Army. Alex Myers, a descendant of Sampson, has written a novel based on her life and will discuss his book on Tuesday, March 6, at 5pm at the museum. Whether or not you can make it to this event, Myers’s book, Revolutionary, sounds like a good one to pick up for March.

The National Constitution Center highlights the women’s suffrage movement in March. Visit online for lesson plans, videos, blogs, and more resources about American women’s fight for the vote. The museum also offers a self-guided women’s history tour as well as a number of special events through the month.

At Penn Book Center, the history of motherhood and women in Philadelphia will be the subject of a conversation between local author Janet Benton and historian Shan Holt on Thursday, March 15. Benton’s 2017 novel, Lilli de Jong, follows a young, unmarried Quaker woman who gives birth in 19th-century Germantown. You can also catch Benton later in the month, at two Free Library Authors Up Close events: on Monday, March 19, at Welsh Road Library; and on Wednesday, March 28, at Northeast Regional Library.

Germantown’s iMPeRFeCT Gallery hosts a very contemporary show of women’s art focused on “reckoning, resistance and growth in the struggle for fair treatment and respect for all women.” This open-call exhibit of local women artists will be on display through March 31.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is giving visitors a lift. On Sunday, March 18, hop aboard a trolley departing from the PMA for an afternoon excursion called Hear Her Story. You’ll learn about the real lives of early American women (including their little-known contributions to business and politics at the time), at locations like Laurel Hill, Cedar Grove, and Woodford.

Visit the African American Museum in Philadelphia this month to check out Went Looking for Beauty: Refashioning Self, an exhibit featuring the photography of MacArthur Fellow, artist, and scholar Deborah Willis, a Philadelphia native. Willis’s work explores beauty rituals in the private and public sphere, including neighborhood beauty shops in her home of North Philadelphia and beyond. The show runs through April 29. (Here’s a closer look from BSR’s Jarreau Freeman.)

Theater fans will appreciate a unique collaboration between Power Street Theatre Company and West Kensington Ministry, with a production of Erlina Ortiz’s Las Mujeres, running March 8 through 17 at the ministry (2140 North Hancock Street). Tamanya Garza directs. The story follows a contemporary engineer who’s breaking barriers in her field but doesn’t call herself a feminist. She lands in the middle of a supernatural dinner party with Frida Kahlo, Rita Hayworth, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Minerva Mirabal. “Don’t know them? You will,” Power Street promises. Doors will open an hour before each show so audience members can check out an exhibit of art from local youth inspired by the show.

On March 8, International Women’s Day, Lightbox Film Center at International House will screen An Art That Nature Makes: The Work of Rosamond Purcell. Purcell’s unique work recontextualizes discarded and decaying pieces of the natural world, turning “objects both ordinary and strange into sometimes disturbing but always breathtaking imagery.” (The National Geographic alumna’s work has appeared in more than 20 books). Purcell will join a conversation following the film.

Finally, Philly’s own Women’s Film Festival runs March 16 through 24: it's a weeklong opportunity for cinephiles to catch work celebrating women in the film and entertainment industry through screenings, conversations, and more around the city. (Watch WNWN for a closer look at the fest, coming soon.)

Above: March is a great month to pick up Philly novelist Janet Benton's Lilli de Jong. (Image courtesy of the author.)