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
