Votes For Women
Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland
Marker Inscription
National Votes for Women Trail ROAD TO THE 19TH AMENDMENT VOTES FOR WOMEN MARY B. SHELLMAN, COMMUNITY LEADER AND 1913 FOUNDING PRESIDENT CARROLL COUNTY JUST GOVERNMENT LEAGUE, EDUCATED VOTERS HERE IN 1920 WILLIAM C. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2021 116
The Story
In the years before 1920, American women organized town by town to win the right to vote, and Westminster had its own champion in Mary B. Shellman. As founding president of the Carroll County Just Government League in 1913, she spent the decade rallying neighbors to the suffrage cause, and once the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 she turned to the practical work of teaching newly enfranchised women how to cast a ballot. This marker, part of the National Votes for Women Trail, stands where that grassroots civic education actually happened.
Why it matters
The fight for the 19th Amendment was won not only in Washington but in thousands of local leagues like Shellman's, making this an anchor point in the larger American story of expanding democracy and women's full citizenship.
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Related people
- · Mary B. Shellman
Related events
- · Women's suffrage movement
- · Ratification of the 19th Amendment
Themes & tags
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