The YWCA is celebrating its 165th anniversary. The YWCA is the oldest and most esteemed organization dedicated to empowering women and girls in the U.S. The YWCA’s national and global movement to eliminate racism and empower women spans six generations, tirelessly working toward a vision of a fair and just society.
The Vineyard Preservation Trust’s Carnegie Heritage Center is hosting a special installation curated by YWCA USA titled “Equal. Powerful. Unstoppable: 165 Years of Eliminating Racism and Empowering Women.” The exhibit is a graphic and photographic account of the YWCA’s early years in America, honoring their rich history, and underscoring the continuing relevance of the organization’s work in today’s society.
Funded by philanthropist and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, the 1904 historic Carnegie Library building is one of many public facilities he supported across the country, including several YWCA locations.
“This exhibit is an opportunity to tell a broader story in a historic building,” Carnegie programming director Sissy Biggers said. “I’m thrilled that the Carnegie is contributing to the vital conversations happening on the Island this August. The YWCA’s dynamic team works tirelessly on behalf of women and girls, and we are honored to help share their powerful story.”
The exhibit includes a collection of photos, uniforms, poster art, advertising, and mission content, and other historic pieces related to the YWCA’s long history. “What’s fun is seeing historical archives that are part of the YWCA, which started off as a Swim and Gym, but has evolved into a much broader mission,” Briggers said.
Sabrina W. Horton, chief external affairs officer of the YWCA, notes that the exhibit is a culmination of memorabilia from several YWCAs across the country. “We are located in 46 states, and every state YWCA has original art — original pins, brooches, jackets, scarves — each one reflects a timestamp,” she said.
According to its website, the YWCA has been at the forefront of the most pressing social movements for more than 160 years — from voting rights to civil rights, from affordable housing to pay equity, from violence prevention to healthcare reform.
Throughout the exhibit are numerous examples of the programs and initiatives the organization created and led throughout the decades, including a montage of photos and information from the 1930s that focuses on birth control for women. “To see that in that era the YWCA was openly talking to women about birth control, is amazing,” Margaret Mitchell, CEO of the YWCA, said.
Today, the YWCA combines programming and advocacy in order to generate institutional change in three key areas: racial justice and civil rights, empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls, and health and safety of women and girls.
“Our movement has been and still is always pushing back. When faced with challenges we say, ‘OK, here we go. This is it,’” Mitchell said.
As far back as 1866, women across the country have been at the helm of pushing back. According to YWBoston.org, 30 women met in Boston that year at the home of civic reformer Pauline Durant to adopt a constitution for the Boston YWCA. Their objective was “the temporal, moral, and religious welfare of young women who are dependent upon their own exertions for support.” What followed was over 150 years of YWCA Boston catalyzing unprecedented advances in women’s empowerment and social justice.
“In the 1930s, the National Board of the YWCA wrote in their standard report, ‘We are too white, too Protestant, too middle class, and we aren’t ready for the future.’ The fact that they were already thinking that back then is powerful,” Mitchell said.
In 1949, Helen Jackson Claytor was elected as the president of the Grand Rapids YWCA, marking the first time in the U.S. that a Black woman had been elected president of a community YWCA. And according to Mitchell, in the 1950s, the YWCA in Salt Lake City, Utah, wrote a letter to every hotel in town demanding they desegregate.
The ongoing support and push for women’s health, rights, and well-being has historically been heavily led by women. As a matter of fact, Andrew Carnegie’s wife Louise was a strong supporter of the YWCA. “It’s so wonderful to have this exhibit at Carnegie,” Mitchell said. “We were so drawn to the Carnegie, and to Sissy Biggers. It all made sense how it came together — this history of Louise Carnegie, the place, the building. Female philanthropists have always invested in us, and we’re seeing that still. Their quiet giving is incredibly important to fund our work.”
Mitchell additionally expressed that the Island community and its history aligns with the YWCA’s mission. “For me there are such deep roots here, and gender and racial diversity. To be in this incredibly welcoming environment, this rootedness, feels akin to the work we do,” Mitchell said. “Martha’s Vineyard is about its past, but it’s also about its future. I see the young people here, and we’re excited about how young women are reframing and reformulating the future. Especially now. There is a conversation and a dance about the future for women. It takes a ‘we,’ not a ‘me ’ to make change, and the balms of the ‘we’ get strengthened on the Vineyard.”
“Equal. Powerful. Unstoppable: 165 Years of Eliminating Racism and Empowering Women” runs until Sept. 3 at the Carnegie in Edgartown. To learn more about the YWCA, visit justice.ywca.org.
