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Women’s History Month

In 1987, growing from “Women’s History Week”, the National Women’s History Project petitioned for March to be recognized as “Women’s History Month.” March has since been dedicated to acknowledging and preserving contributions made by women throughout history. The month of March was specifically chosen as it aligns with International Women’s Day on March 8.

Macalester College takes this time to learn from the wisdom and brilliance of women and their relentless leadership to foster an equitable society. As a community, we invite you to engage in meaningful conversations centering on the voices and stories of women who advance equity and justice.

If you would like to have your event and/or program featured please submit it via our online form. 

Please note that the events below are organized by different organizations and departments at Macalester. Use the links below for further information, or directly contact the event host with questions.

Joanna Tam: Visibility Studies

Hosted by: Media and Cultural Studies
Co-sponsors: Art and Art History, Asian Languages and Cultures, and Division of Institutional Equity

Leola Johnson Lecture
Tue., Mar. 3 | 5:00 p.m. | Humanities 412
Joanna will present Visibility Studies and discuss her practice of documenting sites of displacement, detention, and institutional power.

Community Workshop – A wish for my home: a storytelling and performance workshop
Wed., Mar. 4 | 4:45 p.m. | Humanities 412 | RSVP Form
A hands-on workshop exploring visibility, surveillance, and creative documentation practices.

Joanna Tam’s project Visibility Studies examines hypervisibility, invisibility, and safety for marginalized communities through a striking methodology: she uses handmade pinhole cameras integrated into a custom “Visibility Garment” to photograph sites of historical injustice and institutional power. Her images document places where state power has displaced, surveilled, and harmed communities, from Boston’s Chinatown, bisected by Interstate 90 construction, to Angel Island, the immigration station used to block Chinese entry and later intern Japanese Americans during WWII.

What makes her practice so compelling is that she reverses the surveillant gaze. By photographing federal buildings, detention sites, and museums through the lens of a pinhole camera, she questions who is seen, who is protected, and who holds power. Her work is particularly resonant in this political moment, as issues of immigration detention, surveillance, and visibility intensify nationally and locally, including at sites like Fort Snelling here in Minnesota.

Tam is an artist, based in Boston, whose interdisciplinary practice spans video, photography, performance, and installation. She is the recipient of the 2024 Prilla Smith Brackett Award and the 2024 Collective Futures Fund’s Sustaining Practice Grant. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she currently serves as a visiting lecturer at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Her work engages vital questions in art, urban studies, Asian American studies, immigration, social justice, landscape history, and community memory. I hope you’ll join us for what promises to be an important series of conversations. (joannatam.net)

Twin Cities Connection: Hungry Like the Wolf

Fri., Mar. 27 | 7:30 p.m. | History Theatre
RSVP Form (Limited quantity – first come, first serve)
Hosted by: Institutional Equity and Program Board

“An unforgettable blend of history, humor, and essential social commentary, all punctuated by an infectious ’80s energy and a fierce Duran Duran obsession.”

In honor of Women’s History Month, Institutional Equity and Program Board invites our community to attend “Hungry Like a Wolf” by Sandra Struthers and directed by Laura Lefflerat at the History Theatre.

Playwright Sandra Struthers delivers a thought-provoking new comedy that dives into the critical, ongoing fight for labor rights and gender equity. The production launches from the groundbreaking history of the Willmar Eight, the women who led the first American bank strike right here in Minnesota. This dynamic piece uses this historical foundation to explore related themes, including the subsequent ’80s film, McCarthyism, and the political life of director Lee Grant.  (History Theatre) 

*This event is open to all students, staff, and faculty.

Women’s History Month Community Luncheon

Tue., Mar. 31 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Weyerhaeuser Boardroom
RSVP Form – Due to limited space, RSVP is required.
Hosted by: Institutional Equity | [email protected]

With Mary Anne Quiroz, co-founder of Indigenous Roots, attendees will have the opportunity to connect and learn about what it means to work towards our collective liberation while following the leadership of women. 

Mary Anne Quiroz is an Indigenay, an Indigenous Islander Mama, Dancer, Artist Organizer and Community Activator. She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States at the age of 9. Together with her life partner and duality, she is a Co-Founder/Co-Director of Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli, a traditional Mexican/Nahua/Aztec dance and community group that they founded in 2006. Quiroz is also a Co-Founder/Co-Director of Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center where she and a collective of artists, organizers and cultural groups provide accessible space and programming opportunities that promote and practice holistic well being through arts, culture and activism. Guided by ancestral knowledge, Quiroz believes that arts and culture is an ecosystem for community development. Today, Quiroz continues to build collective power with and for Brown, Black, Native and Indigenous artists, organizers and community members. (Indigenous Roots) 

Previous Events and Programs

  • 2025

    Women’s History Month Community Luncheon

    Tu., Mar. 4 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Weyerhaeuser Boardroom
    Hosted by: Institutional Equity

    Institutional Equity invites our campus community to join us for our annual Women’s History Month Community Luncheon. During this time, we will have the opportunity to connect and engage in meaningful conversations and dialogue centering the experiences and stories of women.

    Dialogue and Dinner about the Campus Mural Project with Natchez Beaulieu

    Tue., Mar. 11 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | The Loch
    Hosted by: Institutional Equity

    We invite you to join us for a dialogue and dinner with Natchez Beaulieu to learn more about her story and the creative process of our campus mural. With our campus community, this acrylic mural will cover ‘The Link’ (mini skyway between DeWitt library and Old Main) to honor the Four Directions and the Dakota land we are on.

    Attendees will also have the opportunity to work on the mural project after our dialogue, if you wish to participate please wear clothing that you do not mind getting painted on.

    Natchez Beaulieu, Waabigwanikwe (Flower Woman), is an Anishinaabekwe from the White Earth Nation, born and raised in South Minneapolis. She is a full-time artist, teaching art and working on commissioned projects in her community. During her summers in high school, she learned under Marilyn Lindstrom’s mentorship, creating many outdoor acrylic murals throughout the Twin Cities. Recently, she’s been focused on mosaics to showcase her Ojibwe floral designs and Indigenous knowledge. Natchez’s work can be viewed through Ashagi Studios on Facebook or Instagram.

    In collaboration with organizations in the Native American Community, she has completed several projects, two of which are on the American Indian Cultural Corridor including the mosaic on the medicine garden at the Native American Community Clinic. Over two summers, she collaborated with the Good Space to engage Indigenous youth on a mosaic mural called Zoongidewin in the Little Earth Community. In 2017, she worked with students in the Osseo and Minneapolis Public Schools Indian Education programs, creating culturally significant art. During the summer of 2019, she was hired by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to facilitate a youth mural project with ten young women for The Hearts Of Our People exhibition. This project deeply reflected the exhibit’s themes and brought her closer to my goal of establishing a youth mentorship art program in her community. She is honored to be able to create art that represents her culture and her community.
  • 2024

    Women’s History Month Community Luncheon

    Tu., Mar. 26 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Kagin Alexander G. Hill Ballroom
    Hosted by: Institutional Equity

    Round Table Talk

    Tue., Mar. 19 | 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | Old Main 4
    Hosted by: Voices of Mental Health & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

    Tsione Wolde-Michael ’08
    Historian, Curator, and Executive Director of President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

    Thu., Mar. 28 | 6:15 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. | Weyerhaeuser Boardroom
    Hosted By: Institutional Equity
    Co-Sponsors: Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Political Science, Art & Art History, Macalester College Student Government

    Tsione Wolde-Michael ’08 is the Executive Director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). Wolde-Michael’s extensive work in the field of arts and public humanities has focused on developing innovative approaches to community engagement, collections management, cultural heritage, and exhibitions. She served as founding Director for the Center for Restorative History – the Smithsonian’s first center devoted exclusively to community-based redress — and at the National Museum of American History. Wolde-Michael started her Smithsonian career in 2011 at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where she worked to create inaugural exhibitions including the landmark Slavery and Freedom exhibition. Her international projects in Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa, and the United Kingdom have focused on collaborating with local art and history museums to reinterpret colonial collections. Her experience extends to digital media and online exhibitions, curating visual art, writing for academic publications, teaching, and lecturing around the country. She holds a B.A. in Women and Gender Studies from Macalester College ’08 and an M.A. in History from Harvard University.

    The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was established by White House Executive Order as an advisory body to the President on cultural policy. The committee is comprised of leading artists, scholars, museum practitioners, and philanthropists. The PCAH provides recommendations to the President and the heads of the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Institute of Museum and Library Services to advance wide-ranging policy objectives in the arts and humanities. As part of its mandate, the PCAH will consider how the arts and humanities sectors can positively impact community well-being, economic development, public health, education, civic engagement, and climate change across the United States.W