Bonda Lewis performs as Sara Bard Field, who delivered the dedication speech at the unveiling of the Suffragist Portrait Monument in the United States Capitol on February 15, 1921.

The National Woman's Party commissioned sculptor Adelaide Johnson to create the portraits of pioneering feminists Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in honor of the federal passage of the woman suffrage amendment in 1920. This “First Gift of Women,” sculpted by a woman, was presented to the United States Congress and the American people. Merced Branch Library Manager Elizabeth Thacker-Estrada discusses the history of the Portrait Monument prior to introducing Ms. Lewis, who has conducted primary historical research on Sara Bard Field. She played Field's shows, Stories from the Road and We Cannot Fail, at SFPL in 2011 in celebration of the centennial of California woman suffrage. 

A question-and-answer session will follow the performance.