More than 5,000 marchers joined the 1913 Woman Suffrage Parade on the National Mall

The 2017 Women's March was one of the largest protests in the Mall's history

Held the day after Donald Trump's inauguration, the 2017 Women's March drew an estimated 470,000 to 500,000 people to Washington, DC, and 3 million to 5 million nationwide. It is widely regarded as the largest single-day protest in US history.

The women's suffrage movement spanned more than 70 years

The fight for women's right to vote formally began at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and concluded with the 19th Amendment in 1920—a seven-decade struggle led by activists including Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Hear firsthand accounts from the 1963 March on Washington

This video features stories from people who attended the 1963 March on Washington—the largest demonstration in US history at the time—capturing what it felt like to witness a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights movement as it unfolded.

Women's role in society expanded during the war

With millions of men at war, women managed farms and businesses, served as nurses, and organized aid efforts—broadening women's participation in public life and laying the groundwork for future suffrage movements.

Mary Cassatt was not a fan of Mother's Day

When Mother's Day was first proposed as a holiday in 1913, the American Impressionist opposed it, believing that women's suffrage was a far more important issue. The holiday was established by an act of Congress in 1915; Congress did not pass the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote, until 1919.

The Vietnam Women's Memorial was the first monument to American military women on the Mall

Dedicated in 1993, the Vietnam Women's Memorial became the first monument on the National Mall honoring American military women and recognizing the estimated 11,000 women who served in Vietnam.

Roosevelt resigned from a prominent women's organization after it barred a Black singer from performing

When the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Marian Anderson to perform at their Washington hall in 1939 because she was Black, Roosevelt publicly cut ties with the group. She worked to arrange an alternative outdoor concert for Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial, which drew a crowd of 75,000.

Woodrow Wilson revived the in-person State of the Union in 1913

President Wilson became the first president since John Adams to deliver the State of the Union in person. He is credited with transforming the speech from a routine update into a public tool for advancing the president's legislative agenda.

Eliza Scidmore advocated for planting cherry trees in Washington, DC, in the early 1900s

The first female writer for National Geographic, Scidmore championed planting Japanese cherry trees around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. Her idea succeeded in 1912, after years of lobbying, creating one of the National Mall's most enduring traditions and tourist draws.

George Washington's birthday was a federal holiday until it was moved to the third Monday in February in 1968

Washington's February 22 birthday became a federal holiday in 1879. A 1968 law moved it to the third Monday in February, and decades of advertising popularized the unofficial name "Presidents' Day," which the federal government never formally adopted.

The history of New York's first hotel for middle-class women

March 2, 1903, marked the opening of New York's first hotel just for women, generally from the middle class. Prior to the establishment of the "Women's Hotel," it was difficult for solo women to find lodgings in the city. Seeing an opportunity, Charles Day Kellogg raised funds to establish the 400-room hotel, which exclusively served women until 1998. Read more about its history here.

Adams' famous 1776 letter urged the Founders to 'remember the ladies'

In a March 1776 letter to John, Adams urged the Founders not to grant husbands unchecked power over their wives. Historians note it was not a demand for suffrage but a challenge to coverture—the legal doctrine that denied a married woman an independent identity.

Why did four Black servicewomen go on strike during WWII?

On March 9, 1945, dozens of Black women stationed at Fort Devens went on strike to protest against their treatment and working conditions. Under pressure, many abandoned the strike, though four women pushed through despite the possibility of their strike being considered mutiny, a crime whose punishment could mean death. Read this article to learn why Privates Mary Green, Anna Morrison, Johnnie Murphy, and Alice Young pushed back.

The story of America's first woman presidential candidate

This video guides us through the history of Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president in the US. Despite the odds being against her, Woodhull experienced extraordinary success as a stockbroker, newspaper founder, and presidential candidate. Watch to learn more about her background, her revolutionary ideas, and her impact on 19th-century politics.

The 15th Amendment granted Black men the right to vote nationwide

Ratified in 1870, the 15th Amendment prohibited federal and state governments from denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude—enfranchising millions of Black men.

Sheep once grazed on the National Mall and White House grounds

In the late 1910s, sheep grazed near the Lincoln Memorial and on the White House lawn. Under Woodrow Wilson, their wool was auctioned for charity, briefly making the grazing animals the subject of a federal cost-saving experiment.

One of the earliest Memorial Day ceremonies was held by newly freed Black Americans in South Carolina

On May 1, 1865, roughly 10,000 people, mostly freed slaves, paraded around a Charleston racetrack where Union prisoners had been buried, predating the first national commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery by three years.

In the 1930s, Congress nearly passed a constitutional amendment requiring a national vote before declaring war

The Ludlow Amendment, proposed amid rising isolationism after World War I, would have required a national referendum before Congress could declare war, except in cases of direct attack. It was defeated 209 to 188 in 1938 after Roosevelt lobbied against it.

Bill of Rights Day is commemorated annually in the United States on Dec. 15

The date marks the 1791 ratification of the first 10 amendments. President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially established Bill of Rights Day in 1941, on the document's 150th anniversary. Hear the speech he gave on that day.

An interactive dive into the history of international women's soccer

Despite evidence it has been around just as long as men's, international support and recognition for women's soccer was long delayed for various reasons. The National Football Museum collects artifacts and oral histories on the history of soccer...

David Stern had a hand in starting the WNBA

For years, NBA Commissioner David Stern had been planning for an NBA-supported women’s basketball league. When the US Women’s Basketball Team captured gold at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he began putting them into motion.

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in 1924

It was originally intended to promote Macy’s upcoming holiday sales. Although it took place on Thanksgiving Day, the parade was initially called the Macy’s Christmas Parade—the name didn’t change until 1927.

Earth Day began as a grassroots protest coordinated by a 25-year-old

With experience as a Vietnam activist and inspired by his upbringing in a polluted mill town, Denis Hayes drew 20 million participants to the first Earth Day after being selected to organize it. The momentum of the event—celebrated across about 10,000 schools and universities—pressured Congress to pass environmental legislation.

The National Parks System is a popular attraction in the US

More than 16 billion people have visited the US National Park System since 1904. Curious about how something like World War II affected park visitation? This table of annual recreational visits spans the early 20th century through 2023, demonstrating the slow-but-steady rise in visitors over the decades.

The canal became a highway for American reform movements

Beyond goods, the canal carried ideas. Its corridor hosted Second Great Awakening revivals and became a center for activism—fueling abolitionist networks, women’s suffrage organizing, and other reform movements.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.