• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

 Homepage

100 Years of Votes for Women

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Suffrage100MA History
    • Contact Us
    • Annual Reports
  • Partners
    • Becoming a Partner (PDF)
    • Partner Application Form
    • Our Partners
  • Resources
    • Suffrage Centennial Resources
    • The Fight For Women’s Suffrage: Looking Back, Marching Forward! Film
    • The Suffrage Centennial Display Panel Project
    • Did You Know?
      • The Boston Protest of 1919
      • Featured Suffragists
        • Ida B. Wells
        • Alice Paul
        • Sojourner Truth
        • Jeannette Rankin
        • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
      • Silent Sentinels
      • Suffragist or Suffragette?
      • Women’s Rights Quiz
  • Events
    • Massachusetts & Beyond
    • Virtual Events
    • MA Suffrage Markers
      • Sarah E. Wall Women’s Suffrage Marker in Worcester
      • Remond Family Suffrage Marker Unveiling in Salem
      • Anne L. Page Women’s Suffrage Marker Unveiling
    • Celebrating Women’s Equality Day at the Swan Boats
      • Women’s Equality Day 2022
      • Women’s Equality Day 2021
      • Women’s Equality Day 2019
      • Women’s Equality Day 2018
      • Women’s Equality Day 2017
    • Suffrage Centennial Kickoff Celebration
      • Suffrage Centennial Kickoff Celebration Slideshow
      • Suffrage Centennial Kickoff Invitation
    • Film Screenings
      • The Divine Order
      • Hidden Figures
      • Suffragette
      • Iron Jawed Angels
    • Forums and Presentations
      • I Want to Go to Jail
      • The Equal Rights Amendment, Why Now?
      • The Woman Behind the New Deal
      • Women’s Leadership Forum
      • A Woman’s Place Is at the Top
    • Marches and Rallies
      • Pride Celebrations
      • Tournament of Roses Parade 2020
      • Suffrage100MA Joins Boston Women’s March for America 2017
  • Media
    • In The News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters to Our Community
    • Press Releases
  • Vote
  • Donate
    • Donation History
      • Donation Confirmation
      • Donation Failed
Home » Events » Sarah E. Wall Women’s Suffrage Marker in Worcester

Sarah E. Wall Women’s Suffrage Marker in Worcester

October 14, 2022 By Michelle Juralewicz

On Monday, October 24, 2022,  Suffrage100MA and the City of Worcester, MA unveiled an historic women’s suffrage marker honoring the legacy of Sarah E. Wall  at the corner of Sycamore Street and Main Street, Worcester, MA. The marker celebrates Wall’s tax protest for women’s voting rights and will encourage passers-by to learn more. The marker is one of five new Massachusetts marker sites on the National Votes for Women Trail.

Scroll down for event photos, videos and press highlights!

Special thanks to our speakers, who included:

Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty

Councilor Morris Bergman

Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson

Worcester City Manager Eric Batista

Kristen Elechko, Regional Director, Office of Senator Edward J. Markey

Suffrage100MA Founder & President Fredie Kay

About Sarah E. Wall
Sarah Elizabeth Wall (1825-1907) was a women’s rights activist and abolitionist from Worcester, Massachusetts, famous for her refusal to pay property taxes because, as a woman, she could not vote. She was a member of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, participated in the First National Woman’s Rights Convention in Worcester (October 23-24, 1850), and was active in the movement for three decades. In 1863, Worcester’s collector of taxes seized and auctioned off Wall’s property to recover unpaid taxes. Wall’s home was located at approximately 2 Sycamore Street, the site of this new suffrage marker, celebrating her protest. The MA Supreme Judicial Court ruled that she must pay her taxes, which she refused to do.

About Massachusetts Suffrage Markers
The suffrage marker project is funded through a grant by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation®, sponsored by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (NCWHS)’s National Votes for Women Trail (NVWT), and coordinated in Massachusetts by Suffrage100MA. There will be a total of five Massachusetts suffrage markers. In addition to a marker honoring Sarah E. Wall in Worcester, the other four are: Anne L. Page (Danvers) and Remond Family (Salem), which were recently installed, and Maria Baldwin (Cambridge) and Sojourner Truth (Northampton), which will be installed and unveiled in spring 2023. See this recent Boston Globe article about the markers!

Video of Sarah E. Wall Suffrage Marker Unveiling in Worcester, MA

PRESS HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Patch (Oct. 27, 2022): Worcester’s Most Famous Tax Protester Gets Her Corner Back
  • Telegram & Gazette (Oct. 25, 2022): Suffragist Sarah E. Wall honored with marker at location of home that city took in 1863
  • Spectrum News 1 (Oct. 24, 2022): Trail marker for women’s suffrage movement leader Sarah E. Wall unveiled in Worcester
  • WBZ News Radio (May 6, 2022): New Historical Markers Honoring Women’s Suffrage History Trail In MA

Photos from Sarah E. Wall Marker Unveiling

Photo credit: Axie Breen Photography

Filed Under: Events, Homepage Slider, Suffrage Markers, Suffragists

Footer

Stay in Touch with Suffrage100MA -
Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Support Suffrage100MA

 

Stay in Touch with Suffrage100MA -
Follow Us!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 · Women's Suffrage Celebration Coalition · Site by Tech-Tamer· Log in

Suffragists Support #StopAsianHate

March 2021

Dear Suffrage100MA Community,

Suffrage100MA stands with the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community and grieves for the eight victims recently murdered in Georgia, six of whom were women of Asian descent.  Carry the victims in your hearts, light candles for them, learn about their lives:  Daoyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Ziaojie Tan, Delaina Yaun and Young Ae Yue.

The words of this song from the 1949 musical “South Pacific” are more applicable than ever:

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” was a highly controversial song, but thankfully, ultimately included in the show. The song was written to address racism against Asians and all people.  The character Lt. Cable, a Caucasian man who has fallen in love with an Asian woman, is distressed by the prejudice against interracial couples and racism in general, sang the song after saying the words “…racism is not born in you! It happens after you’re born…”

James Taylor recorded the song in Nov. 2020.

We must work to end the racism that is “…drummed in your dear little ear…”

In 2020, hate crimes against Asian Americans are up almost 150 percent.  Discrimination against the Asian community has existed in this country since Asians arrived in the late 19th century.  Asians faced discrimination against dignity and equality, and were denied citizenship and the right to vote until the middle of the 20thcentury. After the 19th Amendment was adopted extending the vote to women, discriminatory laws prevented Asian Americans, Native Americans and African Americans from voting for decades and today the crisis for voter accessibility is growing.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election, and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced well over four times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to roughly this time last year. Thirty-three states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 restrictive bills this year (as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020).”

Suffrage100MA is committed to increasing accessibility to the ballot and inspiring voters to exercise their right to vote by sharing the history of those who fought bravely, sometimes losing their lives, for decades and across centuries, to secure the vote.  Let us each recognize the power and importance of voting to express one’s voice

On behalf of the Suffrage100MA Board of Directors –
With deep appreciation to all of you for being on this journey with us,

Fredie Kay
Founder & President, Suffrage100MA