The MacArthur Museum of Military History in Little Rock’s Women’s History Month exhibit showed the roles and impact of women on history, especially in relation to World Wars I and II.
The exhibit, which took place both in the museum and out on the front lawn, aimed to show how women affected and were affected by history in America, focusing on their roles in the World Wars with informational booths, interactive activities, exhibits inside the museum itself and lectures from speakers on topics relating to Women’s History Month.
The booths at the “living history” section of the exhibit included organizations such as the AEHC, the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, the Arkansas History Commission and the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County. The activities offered were knitting, poster making, traditional museum exhibits and lectures from speakers from Arkansas on women’s rights and their roles throughout history.
Jodi Morris of the MacArthur Museum of Military history said that the Women’s History Month exhibits were a partnership between the MacArthur Museum of Military History and the Arkansas Women’s History Institute. While the exhibits are annual, the living history section was new for the 2017 celebration.
“It allows you to experience history in multiple ways,” said Morris.
Morris said the 2017 event was also a celebration of the centennial of World War I.
She said the museum chose to combine Women’s History Month and the centennial because “Wars greatly expanded the role of women out of the home, and we really wanted to show that this year”.
Volunteer Rhonda Higgins said one booth in the living history section of the exhibit was sponsored by the Arkansas Extension Homemakers Council.
She said the University of Arkansas organization, which stems from the college’s agriculture department, is the largest non profit organization in the state since 1912.
Higgins said that since the organization is made up primarily of women and works closely with Arkansas’s women’s shelters and pregnancy center, it was important for AEHC to be a part of the event and help to educate people on women’s history, especially during the World War I and World War II time periods around which the exhibits were focused.
Photo Courtesy of littlerock.gov
