The Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project is hosting a celebration on Monday, March 16, from 6-7:30 p.m. commemorating the 1971 takeover of 888 Memorial Drive, a little-used Harvard owned building, by women who later went on to found the Cambridge Women’s Center.  The event will be held at the City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, 2nd Floor Meeting Room.

The evening’s program will feature the unveiling of a new Historical Commission marker that will be placed on the site, commemorating the events of 38 years ago.   Other highlights include excerpts from a documentary about the takeover, “Left on Pearl,” tributes from women who were involved, a slide presentation of recent additions to the women’s heritage database, songs from folksinger Marcia Diehl and a cellist performance featuring Cynthia Forbes.

The Cambridge Women’s Center, now housed at 46 Pleasant Street in Cambridge, has been providing programming to promote social and economic justice for women since 1972.  On March 6, 1971, women from across Massachusetts gathered in Boston Common to celebrate International Women’s Day by marching from Boston Common, up Massachusetts Avenue, to Harvard University.   As the parade entered Cambridge, the crowd turned down a side street and stopped at a building owned by Harvard University. For 10 days, before being forced out, the women occupied the building to highlight the lack of services and support available to them.  Inspired by their actions, local supporters in Cambridge went on to found the Cambridge Women’s Center, now the longest continually operating Women's Center in the United States.

The Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project is a joint venture between the Cambridge Historical Commission, the Cambridge Women’s Commission, local advocates and interested individuals in the Cambridge community.  Its mission is to create ongoing programs to celebrate the women of Cambridge, past and present, from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and experiences and recognize their contributions to the life and culture of the city.  The Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project maintains a growing and expanding database of notable Cambridge women and women’s organizations, which can be viewed online at http://www.cambridgema.gov/cwhp. 

For more information, please call the Cambridge Women’s Commission, 617-349-4697.