“On the Wings of Change”

Chicago Women Suffragists Mural

“On the Wings of Change”, a new mural by artist Diosa (Jasmina Cazacu), celebrates ten women who were involved in the early women’s suffrage movement in the Chicago area. Recently installed in the Wabash Arts Corridor between Jackson Blvd. and Ida B. Wells Drive, the mural was conceived and developed by The Chicago Womxn’s Suffrage Tribute Committee in collaboration with Columbia College Chicago’s Department of Exhibitions and Performing and Students Spaces.

The ten Chicago women suffragists depicted in the mural are: Jane Addams, Myra Bradwell, Mary Livermore, Catherine McCulloch, Agnes Nestor, Grace Wilbur Trout, Mary Fitzbutler Waring, Ida B. Wells Barnett, Fannie Barrier Williams and Frances Willard.

Extensive biographies, with references for further research, of all ten women are included in Chicago Women’s History Center’s book Women Building Chicago 1790 - 1990, A Biographical Dictionary edited by Rima Lunin Schultz and Adel Hast. Below are links to the biographies from Women Building Chicago of the women depicted in the mural.

More Chicago women’s biographies can be found in Women Building Chicago 1790 - 1990, A Biographical Dictionary

Jane Addams

September 6, 1860 - May 21, 1935
Social Reformer, Settlement House Founder and Head Resident, Social Theorist, Peace Activist, Suffragist

Image credit: Chicago Women’s History Center

 

Myra Bradwell

February 12, 1831 - February 14, 1894
Lawyer, Publisher, Women’s Rights Advocate, Suffragist

Image credit: Chicago Women’s History Center

 

Mary Livermore

December 19, 1820 - May 23, 1905
Civil War Worker, Lecturer, Temperance and Women’s Rights Reformer, Suffragist

Image credit: My Story of the War: A Woman’s Narrative by Mary Livermore

 

Catharine McCulloch

June 4, 1862 - April 20, 1945
Lawyer, Suffragist, Political Activist

Image credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

 

Agnes Nestor

June 24, 1880 - December 28, 1948
Trade Union Organizer, Political Activist, Suffragist

Image credit: U. S. National Archives and DVDIS

 

Grace Wilbur Trout

c. 1864 - October 21, 1955
Suffragist and community leader, Orator, Clubwoman

Image credit: Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest

 

Mary Fitzbutler Waring

November 1, 1869 - December 3, 1958
Physician, Clubwoman, Activist, Educator, Suffragist

Image credit:

 

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett

July 16, 1862 - March 25, 1931
Journalist, Suffragist, Civil Rights Activist

Image credit: Ida B. Wells Foundation

 

Fannie Barrier Williams

February 12, 1855 - March 4, 1944
Journalist, Social Reformer, Civic Leader, Clubwoman, Suffragist

Image credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

 

Frances E. Willard

September 28, 1839 - February 17, 1898
Women’s Rights and Temperance Reformer, Author, Speaker, Suffragist

Image credit: National Women's Christian Temperance Union