Smithsonian Marks Women’s History Month With Exhibits and Events

The Smithsonian invites the public to celebrate Women’s History Month in March through exhibitions, special programming and podcasts from many its museums. All events and exhibitions are free unless otherwise indicated.

Events

Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
Tuesday, March 25; registration is available on the museum’s website 
Virtual; hosted by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum 
Participants will edit and create articles about American women who have been made visible through exhibitions, programs and publications across the Smithsonian.

Commemorative Event for Introduction of U.S. Mint’s New Quarter
Wednesday, March 26; 4–6 p.m.
Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum and the National Postal Museum
The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum and the U.S. Mint established a program to introduce quarters that honor the achievements made by women. The newest quarter features Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA and advocate for the empowerment of girls and women. Her image joins those of journalist and early civil rights leader Ida B. Wells, tennis star Althea Gibson and pioneering astronomer Vera Rubin. An event commemorating the quarter’s release will be held at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum March 26.

“Discoverability Lab” Web Platform
Launches Saturday, March 1
Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum
The lab is a cooperative effort among historians, tech experts and the public to bring women’s achievements and history from the margins into the mainstream of American history. This new web platform features the latest experiments and research, including the Human Computer Project that tells the stories of women in computing fields and was founded by Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures.

Women’s History Day Celebration
Saturday, March 8; 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
National Portrait Gallery
Free activities are scheduled throughout the museum’s galleries. Inspired by the portraits of women in the museum’s collection, the celebration gives visitors an opportunity to learn, reflect and enjoy the art through special programs, meditation, recipe swaps, story times, guided curator tours and more. Registration is encouraged.

The Power of Giving 2025 Symposium: “Women in Philanthropy”
Wednesday, March 12; 1–4:45 p.m.
National Museum of American History
Participants can join discussions about the history and future of women in philanthropy with historians, business leaders, philanthropists, social impact investors and more. A reception will follow the symposium. Registration is required.

Artist Talk: Dyani White Hawk
Thursday, March 27; 6:30–7:30 p.m.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Sičáŋǧu Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk joins Hirshhorn curator Anne Reeve for a discussion on White Hawk’s expansive practice, which fuses Indigenous abstraction with European and American abstraction. White Hawk’s 2022 work “Untitled (Red and Orange)” was recently added to the Hirshhorn’s collection and is currently on view in “Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960.” Among her many accolades, White Hawk was the recipient of a 2023 MacArthur Fellowship and has used her art and platform to elevate Native voices in public art spaces. General tickets will be released Monday, March 10, beginning at 7 p.m.

Film Screening and Discussion

Friday, March 14; 7 p.m.
National Museum of the American Indian, New York City
The National Museum of the American Indian in New York City will celebrate Navajo filmmaker Sydney Freeland’s achievements in film with a special screening and conversation Friday, March 14. Freeland will talk about her filmography starting with her first short film Hoverboard (USA, 2012, six min.), followed by the recently released Rez Ball (USA, 2024, 111 min.). As part of the museum’s Native Cinema Showcase, the Director’s Spotlight series highlights award-winning Indigenous directors with an in-depth conversation and film screening.

Book Talk and Signing

Saturday, March 15; noon–2 p.m.
Anacostia Community Museum
The Anacostia Community Museum in Southwest Washington will present “Black Broadway in DC” with Briana A. Thomas, journalist, historian and author of the book Black Broadway in Washington, DC. She will explore the Black arts scene of the early 1900s through the 1950s, specifically the impact of U Street during those years.

Podcasts

Sidedoor (Smithsonian’s podcast)
An episode called “Face Value” is about the Smithsonian’s role in developing the 2020 American Women’s Quarters program with the U.S. Mint; and the “Bankers in the Boudoir” episode looks at the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, which for the first time allowed women to get credit cards without a male co-signer.

“Collected: The Musical Genius of Black Women” 
National Museum of American History
Season two of the museum’s “Collected” podcast will conclude March 6 with its final episode in a season that looks at Black women entertainers on the mainstream musical stages of American popular music. Host and museum curator Krystal Klingenberg will bring together scholars, music critics and authors to bring perspective to a pantheon of women who changed the popular culture soundscape. Over six weeks, audiences will learn about the evolution of the musical careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Tina Turner and Bernice Johnson Reagon.

“Backstitch”
Smithsonian American Art Museum
“Backstitch” is a 10-episode narrative podcast; it takes a deeper look into the lives and creative practices of 10 trailblazing fiber artists that were in an exhibition at the Renwick Gallery. 

Online Videos

“Latinas Talk Latinas” 
Launches Thursday, March 6
National Museum of American History
“Latinas Talk Latinas” will launch its third season March 6, introducing viewers to the lives of four Latinas as told by curators, historians and educators across the Smithsonian. The spring 2025 season explores stories of contemporary Latinas working in Spanish-language media and journalism.  The “Latinas Talk Latinas” videos are accompanied by digital educational resources that enhance learning about the featured women. The videos feature Dunia Elvir, Lori Montenegro, Teresa Rodriguez and Martha Tijerina, who have shaped the narrative for millions of viewers as they have covered national and local historic events on Telemundo and Univision. 

Exhibitions

National Museum of African American History and Culture
“Forces for Change: Mary McLeod Bethune and Black Women’s Activism” (ongoing)—the first exhibition in the Forces for Change gallery features educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune who became the first Black woman honored with a state-commissioned statue in the U.S. Capitol.

Smithsonian American Art Museum 
“Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” (through Aug. 17)—this traveling exhibition highlights the work of three mid-20th-century Japanese American artists who, until now, had been underrepresented in the story of modernism in American art.

Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery
We Gather at the Edge: Contemporary Quilts by Black Women Artists
The artists featured in “We Gather at the Edge” (through June 22) honor the Black story-quilt tradition with work that envisions a more just and connected world. The exhibition highlights the museum’s recent acquisition of quilts from the collection of Carolyn Mazloomi and celebrates her legacy as the founder of the Women of Color Quilters Network. 

National Museum of American History  

• “Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change” (through March 24)—this exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, explores the contributions of women in many genres, from bluegrass to the Civil Rights Movement songs, drawing from the unique collections across the Smithsonian. 
• “¡De Última hora! Latinas Report Breaking News” (through May 2026)—this bilingual exhibition focuses on Latina journalists in the fast-paced world of broadcast TV news and how they found careers in the news business.

National Portrait Gallery

• “Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell” (through Jan. 4, 2026)—famous images of the Hollywood elite of the 1930s and ’40s includes Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Loretta Young and others from the George Hurrell portrait studio.
• “The Four Justices” (permanent)—the Nelson Shanks oil portrait (7 feet by 5½ feet) has been prominently displayed in the Portrait Gallery since 2013. It features Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. 
• “Recent Acquisitions” (through Oct. 2)—the current exhibition focuses on portraits of women or portraits made by women artists. The works featured range from a 1916 hand-painted pastel photograph of entrepreneur and philanthropist Madame C.J. Walker by the late D.C.-based photographer Addison N. Scurlock, to a 2023 mixed-media portrait of the science fiction writer Octavia Butler by contemporary artist Bisa Butler. Other sitters include artist Ruth Asawa, singer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, actress Greta Garbo, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and astronomer Vera Rubin. 

# # #

SI-54-2025