Votes and Dreams

About This Event

Votes and Dreams, an inspiring exhibition at the Center for Colorado Women’s History, highlights the struggles and triumphs of Colorado’s women activists and leaders who organized at the ballot box and beyond to implement their vision for a better future. Colorado’s women have long been trailblazers charting a way forward – from securing women’s voting rights decades before the rest of the country to pursuing economic justice, civil rights and leadership opportunities. Upon winning the right to vote in 1893, Colorado women achieved a key demand penned decades earlier in the groundbreaking Declaration of Sentiments (1848). Voting, however, was only the beginning. From then on, Colorado women enacted major social changes in the pursuit of economic justice, civil independence, leadership, and voting rights. Votes and Dreams explores how Colorado women exercise their hard-won right to vote and examines the barriers faced by women who were denied suffrage. Visitors to Votes and Dreams will experience a fascinating mix of artifacts, including an outfit worn by a woman to the polls, the ballot box in which she placed her ballot in the 1890’s, and the stories of early women leaders who inspired generations of visionaries, voters, and change-makers.