WELCOME TO THE WORCESTER WOMEN'S HISTORY PROJECT/WOMEN 2000 CONFERENCE

". . . my life has been my speech. For fourteen years I have advocated this cause by my daily life. Bloody feet, sisters, have worn smooth the path by which you have come up hither." -- Abby Kelley Foster, one of the organizers of the first National Women's Rights Convention, Worcester, 1850

In 1850 the question was: Will there be a women's movement?

Convention president Paulina Wright Davis phrased the challenge this way: It is one thing to issue a declaration of rights or a declaration of wrong to the world, but quite another thing wisely and happily to commend the subject to the world's acceptance, and so to secure the desired reformation.

Today the questions are: How far have we followed in Abby Kelley Foster's footsteps? How far do we still have to travel?

We have organized the Worcester Women's History Project both to commemorate the first national women's rights convention and to contribute to the ongoing national discussion of woman's "Rights as an Individual, and her Functions as a Citizen" it helped launch.

We invite you to help us:

• Recreate the 1850 Convention on the occasion of its 150th anniversary
• Assess the women's movement as it enters the new millenium
• Build an on-line archive of historical materials relating to women in 19th-century America
  

  About the WWHP	About the 1850 Convention	Special Feature: Rediscovered Voices	Upcoming Events
  About the Recreation	On-line Archive	Teachers' Workshop