HAVRE DE GRACE, Md.- A new historical marker celebrating the contributions of Elizabeth Forbes, a Harford County suffragette, was dedicated in a ceremony at Havre de Grace’s Tydings Park, March 27.
This historical marker is part of the National Votes for Women Trail. These markers recognize historically significant people, places, or things across the U.S., instrumental to women gaining the right to vote. The marker is located near a spot where the Prairie Schooner Women’s Suffrage Campaign stopped in Havre de Grace on June 30, 1915.
Honoring brave Americans
The ceremony was attended by local officials, APG leadership, residents and community groups like the Girl Scouts and Soroptimist International of Havre de Grace. Some attendees dressed up as suffragettes and created “Votes for Women” signs for the celebration.
Havre de Grace Mayor Bill Martin said the event honors brave Americans.
“[They] stood here before a crowd with the greatest courage and conviction only to make this a more perfect union,” he said.
Martin said before the ceremony, a group marched in a parade and stopped along Union Avenue to wish Mabel Hart, “a Havre de Grace Legend,” a happy 102nd birthday. He said when Hart was born in 1919 her mother could not vote.
“We are not talking ancient history here, we are just talking about the course of the change that takes place in America with brave people,” he said.
Educating the public
The marker was awarded to Havre de Grace through the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, a private grant-making foundation based in Syracuse, New York, through its National Women’s Suffrage Marker Grant Program.
“We know that markers help to educate the public, encourage pride of place, promote historic tourism and economically benefit the communities in which they are placed,” said Steve Bodnar, with the William G. Pomeroy Foundation.
Dr. Amy Rosenkrans, Baltimore City Social Studies Teacher and Havre de Grace resident, served as the guest speaker. She researched the role Havre de Grace played in the suffrage movement.
“So much happened here and so many Harford County women participated in the suffrage movement,” she said. “Today we are celebrating just one of those events.”
She said the suffragists lauded Havre de Grace as “very hospitable” and “very patriotic,” as the town was decorated for Independence Day.
“By the time the Prairie Schooner Campaign in Har
ford County was over, the suffragists had recruited a number of converts to the cause and felt certain that Harford County was well on its way to supporting women’s suffrage,” she said.
Rosenkrans said Forbes was the vice president of the Harford County Just Government League and active in the community.
“While this marker only has Elizabeth Forbes, she is a representative of all of the Harford County women who fought to get the right to vote,” she said.
Several of Forbes’ descendants attended the event. The program also included remarks by Diana Bailey, executive director of the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center and Maria Johnson Darby, president of the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center.
APG supports
To support the event, APG Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Ruth Drewitt and Command Sgt. Maj. Kristie Brady of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command attended the event.
Brady said she was impressed by the support from the community and city council members.
“The marker is just a symbol of what many women before us have had to endure to get us to where we are today, and for them I am grateful,” she said. “Not only do we owe a lot of where we are to the women who have paved the way for us, but I am determined to put in the same efforts for those who will come after me. We have a long way to go, but I’m confident the light at the end of the tunnel is shining brighter and brighter every day.”
Drewitt called the event “amazing.”
“Just to see everyone come out and support the passion behind women finally getting the right to vote. People being here, whose mothers didn’t have the right to vote, it just shows us that history has come so far, but we still have a long way to go.”
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