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The historic Byrne-Reed House will be open to the public on Sunday, September 17, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. to celebrate Austin Museum Day with two Humanities Texas exhibitions—Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas and Sam Houston: Texas Icon. Visitors will have the opportunity to view the exhibitions, learn more about Humanities Texas programs, and tour the restored Byrne-Reed House.

Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas

Beginning in the nineteenth century, thousands of women across the United States campaigned relentlessly for woman suffrage. The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 was a watershed moment and the single largest expansion of voting rights in American history, but not all women gained the right to vote. Millions of women of color were still barred from the polls, taking nearly fifty more years and a new generation of activists to make the promise of the amendment a reality for many Americans. Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas focuses on the decades-long fight for woman suffrage in Texas with panel topics covering the national beginnings of the movement, early Texas leaders, transnational networks, anti-suffrage sentiments, segregated suffrage, and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Sam Houston: Texas Icon.

Sam Houston: Texas Icon chronicles the life of one of Texas's most recognizable and complex characters. Sam Houston remains a larger-than-life figure in Texas and American history with a career that spanned the Texas Revolution, the Republic of Texas, annexation and early statehood, and the state's secession from the Union in 1861. This new traveling exhibition by Humanities Texas traces the life and career of Houston from his boyhood in Virginia and Tennessee through his retirement and eventual passing in Huntsville, Texas. Panel topics include "Prelude to War," "President Again," "American Indian Relations," "A Nation Divided," and "Texas Politics." In each section, engaging text accompanies dynamic works of art, photographs, and historical documents.

Humanities Texas is one of dozens of Austin-area museums and cultural sites participating in Museum Day. Organized by the Austin Museum Partnership, Museum Day is an annual event that features free admission, activities, and exhibitions at participating institutions around the city. To learn more, please visit the Austin Museum Partnership website.