On Saturday, September 6, 2025, Chicago Women’s History Center celebrated Jane Addams’ birthday with a program featuring a film by members Rana Segal and Laurie Little: “On the Wings of Change: The Chicago Suffrage Mural,” which follows the creation of the mural on a building at 33 East Ida B. Wells Drive.

The film, which is still in production stage, looks at the journey of artist Diosa (Jasmina Cazacu), and the committee working on the mural. In the film, they discussed how many women to represent in the mural, who would be included, and the artist’s vision.

Prior to viewing the film, historian Louise Knight spoke on Jane Addams as the center of the women of the mural, and how they interconnected.

The mural shows at the bottom a fifteen-year-old girl with her braids acting as a frame for the women. The ten women are Mary Fitzbutler Waring, Mary Livermore, Myra Bradwell, Francis E. Willard, Catherine Waugh McCulloch, Ida B. Wells, Jane Addams, Fannie Barrier Williams, Grace Wilbur Trout, and Agnes Nestor. Birds, as angels fill the work.

After the screening, a panel followed with an artist and the two filmmakers. Further discussion on the negotiations was needed to get a permit to produce the artwork of the mural. “On the Wings of Change” is one of three works using the concept of women’s suffrage and participation in the political process. The other two are “I’m Speaking,” and “Votes for Women.”   

Cakes were cut, celebrating the birthdays of Jane Addams and CWHC’s Vice President, Xyla Gatilao.

As we left, the “No Troops” demonstration was kicking off across the street on Michigan Avenue.