Marching for women's suffrage, New York City, Oct. 1915 • George Grantham Bain Coll. (Library of Congress)

Welcome to the web home of the Benzie Area Women's History Project. This group, based in Benzie County, Michigan, is comprised of area women dedicated to educating ourselves and others about the women of our past, women whose voices are not always heard.

For the last 29 years we've presented an annual event, usually held in March, celebrating women's history.

Our theme for this year is The rising of the women is the rising of us all..., taken from the poem and folk song Bread and Roses.

To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, we showed an award-winning documentary, A Powerful Noise, at the Garden Theater in Frankfort on Tuesday, March 8. There was also a pre-show reception at the Studio on Main in Frankfort with an art exhibit featuring local women artists.

We will have a full-day event this year on Saturday, March 26, with speakers, music, and lunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfort. For the morning program, Julie Guevara, from Grand Valley State University, will speak on study she has done over the past 15 years with women in El Salvador. After a lunch created by Still Grinning Kitchens, Dede Alderman will present a drumming workshop and we'll hear from women who went to Ethiopia in connection with the recent Run Across Ethopia project seeking money for schools. Then Susanne Glynn will speak about her trip to Nepal in 2004 and the work of the non-profit group ANSWER. Also during the day there will be music from the Songspinners and Mary Ann Rivers.

Anyone on our mailing list will be receiving a mailed letter and registration form later this month. If you'd like to be on our mailing list, see the contact page.

We also fund a yearly scholarship for a non-traditional female student at Northwestern Michigan College. This year's recipient is Dawn Garrock of Traverse City.

http://www.bawhp.org
last update March 19, 2011