Ring In Your Creativity!
Justice Bell Contest
Deadline: March 16, 2026 at Noon
Six prizes of $500!
Submit Your Contest Entry
*Open to all students and employees*
Contest Details
Create an original piece of music, lyrics or instrumentals and a 250-word (or less) essay explaining how the piece was inspired by the Justice Bell Replica (currently on display at the entrance of the Brendlinger Library in College Hall on the Blue Bell Campus). The contest is open to all students and employees, and there is no limit on the number of entries a person can submit.
Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on March 31, 2026, at 4 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center atrium, Blue Bell Campus.
Funded by Jonas C., Marion D., and Robert H. Erb Charitable Fund
The Justice Bell displayed outside the library in College Hall on the Blue Bell Campus.
What is the Justice Bell?
The Justice Bell was created in 1915 as a powerful symbol for the women’s suffrage movement in Pennsylvania. Funded by activist Katharine Wentworth Ruschenberger, it was a replica of the Liberty Bell with the inscription “Establish Justice” and a chained clapper to signify that it would not ring until women won the right to vote. The bell toured Pennsylvania on a flatbed truck, drawing crowds with parades and speeches to rally support for a state amendment granting women voting rights. Although the referendum failed, the bell became an enduring emblem of the fight for equality.
After the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, the Justice Bell rang for the first time at Independence Square in Philadelphia. It later spent decades in obscurity at Ruschenberger’s home and then in a cage at Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge. In the 1990s, it was restored and placed prominently in the chapel’s bell tower. Most recently, the bell was damaged during transport for the 2020 centennial celebration but was repaired and returned to the chapel in 2023, continuing its legacy as a historic symbol of justice and women’s rights.
