Mary Jenkins and the Women's Suffrage Movement
Women’s Suffrage in Talbot County
Mary Jenkins and her friend, Mary Bartlett Dixon (1873-1957), coordinated Eastn’s suffrage activities through the organization they founded, the “Just Franchise League,” which operated in Talbot County from 1909 to 1919.
They hosted “porch and parlor” meetings, organized pampleteering marches, and led petition drives across the county to encourage rural women to take part in this timely democratic movement. They believed that a woman’s duty to serve her community included voting. Like Baltimore, they drafted a bill granting municipal suffrage to local tax paying women. Jenkins also served at the state level as a member of the executive committee of the Just Government League of Maryland in April 1919.
Mary Beverly Jenkins (1862-1947)
Mary Bartlett Dixon Cullen
Passage of the 19th Amendement to the U.S. Constitution
The 19th Amendment was ratified by 36 state legislatures by 1919, as required by the U.S. Constitution, and took effect on August 20, 1920. It prohibits the federal government and the states from denying anyone the right to vote on the basis of sex.
However, Maryland was not among the 36 states. The movement for women’s suffrage in Maryland was slow. Maryland did not officially ratify the 19th Amendment until 1941! Still, all American women could vote for the first time in the national election in November 1920.
Maryland’s delay in ratification prompted local activities. For instance, local women’s activism was connected to broader civic engagement, as seen in the founding of the League of Women Voters in 1920.
Women’s Suffragette Marker outside of the Mary Jenkins House in Easton, Maryland
Mary Jenkins’ and Mary Bartlett Dixon Cullen’s legacy continues through the “Votes for Women” historic marker installed on May 14, 2022, outside the Jenkins’ house. This marker is one of sixteen across communities from Easton to Garrett County honoring those who dedicated years to the cause of women’s voting rights.
Representatives from the Talbot Historical Society, Women’s Heritage Center, National Collaboration of Women’s History Sites, and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation attended.
For more information, view the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center’s brochure: Women’s Suffragette Marker Brochure here.