(Photo: Kathi Santora) Mary Bentley Thomas descendants stand at her marker with Steve Bodner of the Pomeroy Foundation
The Sandy Spring Museum, in Sandy Spring, MD, on Sunday, September 12, honored Mary Bentley Thomas and Caroline Hallowell Miller for the roles they played in advancing the cause of woman’s suffrage. To memorialize these American heroines, the Museum unveiled a historic marker that is part of the National Votes for Women Trail, one of only 250 sites across the United States, and one of 15 such sites in Maryland. These markers recognize historically significant people, places, or things across the United States, instrumental to women gaining the right to vote.
The marker reads, “Votes for Women: In 1889 Caroline H Miller began a suffrage club here. In 1894 Mary B Thomas led state suffrage association & testified at US Congress.
(Photo: Kathi Santora) Historian and MWHC volunteer, Jean Thompson gives the keynote address on unsung Black women suffragists
Keynote speaker Jean Thompson spoke on the lesser-known Black women who were active in the fight for women’s voting rights but, because of racism, had to establish their own suffrage campaigns.
A reception was followed by a view of archival materials that pertain to local woman’s suffrage activities.