Contact: Fredie Kay
BOSTON (March 22, 2022) — In celebration of Women’s History Month, Suffrage100MA (a local non-profit commemorating the adoption of the 19th Amendment) is delighted to announce the approval of five historic women’s suffrage markers to be installed across Massachusetts. The project is funded through a grant by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation® and sponsored by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (NCWHS)’s National Votes for Women Trail (NVWT). The markers are anticipated to be unveiled in spring and summer 2022, and each will honor one of the following:
- Maria Baldwin (Cambridge)
- Anne L. Page (Danvers)
- Sojourner Truth (Northampton)
- Remond Family (Salem)
- Sarah E. Wall (Worcester)
“We are so proud to announce the approval of five Massachusetts suffrage historic markers, each honoring the lives of those who bravely worked to advance women’s voting rights, with more than half of these markers dedicated to women and men of color,” says Suffrage100MA Founder & President Fredie Kay, the Massachusetts State Coordinator of the National Votes for Women Trail. “These five markers are the result of more than two years of dedicated collaboration between municipal leadership, passionate community historians, Suffrage100MA, the Pomeroy Foundation, the NCWHS and NVWT. We look forward to coming together to unveil each of these markers.”
Sponsored by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, the National Votes for Women Trail seeks to recognize and celebrate the enormous diversity of people and groups active in the struggle for women’s suffrage. The Trail consists of two parts: 1) a database with digital map and 2) a program of historical markers for over 200 women’s suffrage sites across the country, funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation®’s National Women’s Suffrage Marker Grant Program.
Database w/digital Map: Through crowd-sourcing, the database and digital map collects sites from all over our country to tell the story of suffrage for all women, of all ethnicities, classes, and geographic areas, from the colonial period to the present. Each state has a coordinator to identify markers and help meet rigorous historical requirements. The National Votes for Women Trail currently has over 2,100 sites on its database. NVWT welcomes additional suffrage sites; to learn more, please visit NVWT’s Get Involved page.
Suffrage Marker Grant Program: “The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites is grateful to the Pomeroy Foundation for their generous support and partnership in helping bring alive through the National Women’s Suffrage Marker Grant Program the little known history of the women’s suffrage movement that significantly expanded democracy in the United States,” says NCWHS President Marsha Weinstein. “Communities are commemorating with the Pomeroy Foundation’s historic markers the places where local grassroots activity took place, thereby recognizing the remarkable efforts of the foremothers and forefathers who fought to win women the right to vote which will inspire women to vote today.”
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About Suffrage100MA
Suffrage100MA is dedicated to commemorating the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1920, prohibiting the federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. Suffrage100MA presents events and activities that highlight the history of the women’s suffrage movement and women’s rights, notably the tireless work and essential contributions of women of color, who were often excluded by white women’s suffrage organizations, and whose role in the suffrage movement has been largely overlooked. Suffrage100MA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization, with over 200 non-profit Partners, committed to recognizing the importance of the 19th Amendment, voting rights and access to voting today. Learn more at www.suffrage100ma.org.
About NCWHS/NVWT
The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites is a non-profit organization established to support and promote the preservation and interpretation of sites and locales that bear witness to women’s participation in American history. A project of NCWHS, the National Votes for Women Trail consists of a database with digital map and a program of historic markers for over 200 suffragists/women’s suffrage sites. Visit: https://ncwhs.org/votes-for-women-trail/
About the Pomeroy Foundation
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation® is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and to raising awareness, supporting research and improving the quality of care for patients and their families who are facing a blood cancer diagnosis. Established by Trustee Bill Pomeroy in 2005 to bring together his two greatest passions, the Pomeroy Foundation is a private, grant-making organization located in Syracuse, N.Y. As the nation’s leading funder of historic roadside markers, the Pomeroy Foundation has awarded nearly 1,700 grants for markers and bronze plaques in 45 states. To learn more about the Pomeroy Foundation, visit wgpfoundation.org.
March 2021