Published Date: February 11, 2021

After launching their “How Long Must Women Wait? Woman’s Suffrage and Women’s Rights in Champaign County," exhibition, the Museum of the Grand Prairie staff went one step further. They "wanted to know what it was like  to be a young woman in today’s culture." They "wondered in what ways doors have been closed to young women and in what ways, through empowerment, they have opened doors for themselves." They found their answers in a powerful collaboration with the Sisterhood Academy, "an afterschool program specifically tailored to girls of color," at Franklin STEAM Academy in Champaign.

The girls of the Sisterhood began this experience with a trip to the Museum of the Grand Prairie and a close examination of materials about women’s suffrage and women’s rights meant to inform and inspire them. Soon after, mural artist Amanda Danowitz joined the project as advisor and mentor. The photos below just begin to capture the magic of their process and completed work.