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COMMISSION ON THE COMMEMORATION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PASSAGE OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

Chair (chosen by Governor): Gloria G. Lawlah, Secretary of Aging
[photo, Women Legislators of Maryland, State House, Annapolis, Maryland] Appointed by Governor: Dietra J. Lucas; Blair Burns Potter; Roberta Sharper; Ruth Hinebaugh Umbel. Terms expire 2020.

Appointed by Senate President: Katherine A. Klausmeier; Karen S. Montgomery.

Appointed by House Speaker: Ariana B. Kelly; Susan K. McComas.

Appointed by Chair, Maryland Commission for Women: Kathleen White, Ed.D; A. Diane Williams.

Women Legislators of Maryland at Suffrage Program, State House, Annapolis, Maryland, February 2013. Photo courtesy of Women Legislators of Maryland.

[photo, Women's Suffrage Historical Marker, Overlea, Maryland] Ex officio: Gloria G. Lawlah, designee of Governor; Emily Oland Squires, designee of State Archivist; Hannah L. Byron, Assistant Secretary, Tourism, Film, & the Arts, Dept. of Business & Economic Development; Nancy N. Kurtz, designee of Director, Division of Historical & Cultural Programs, Dept. of Planning; Patricia Anderson, Ph.D., designee of President, Maryland Historical Society.

Women's Suffrage Historical Marker, commemorating historic women's suffrage march through Maryland, February 1913, unveiled by 19th Amendment Commission, June 9, 2014. Photo Courtesy of 19th Amendment Commission.

Contact: Emily Oland Squires

c/o State Archives
Edward C. Papenfuse State Archives Building, 350 Rowe Blvd., Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 260-6443; 1-800-235-4045 (toll free, Maryland); fax: (410) 974-3895
e-mail: emily.squires@maryland.gov
web: http://msa.maryland.gov/mdvotesforwomen/

Annual Report to Governor & General Assembly due Dec. 31, 2014, through 2019 (Chapter 603, Acts of 2013).
[photo, Members of 19th Amendment Commission & Maryland Commission for Women at Historic Marker unveiling, Overlea, Maryland, June 9, 2014] In July 2013, the Commission on the Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was authorized (Chapter 603, Acts of 2013; Code State Government Article, sec. 9-3001). Ratified by two-thirds of the states in August 1920, the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in the United States.

Members of 19th Amendment Commission & Maryland Commission for Women at Historic Marker unveiling, Overlea, Maryland, June 9, 2014. Photo Courtesy of 19th Amendment Commission.

The Commission is to develop a plan for commemorating the events that occurred in Maryland connected to women's suffrage and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It also must assemble an inventory of sites in Maryland that are significant to the suffrage movement, and develop a strategy to encourage tourism related to the commemoration.

Despite a strong suffrage movement in the State, Maryland initially rejected the 19th Amendment on March 26, 1920 (Joint Resolution no. 2, Acts of 1920). By May 29, 1941, however, the General Assembly chose to ratify it (Joint Resolution no. 12, Acts of 1941). Further, with regard to the Maryland Constitution, the General Assembly in 1956 voted to amend the document to expand the franchise so that it would not be limited to those described as "white male" (Chapter 99, Acts of 1956, ratified by the voters, November 6, 1956).

Authorization for the Task Force extends through October 31, 2020.

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