CANTON — The year 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of a woman’s universal right to vote in the U.S. In recognition of that landmark, the Canton Historical Society is hosting a talk on the suffrage movement that proceeded that change.
It is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, at in its 25 Turner St. building. Anne B. Gass is the speaker; doors open at 6 p.m.
Gass’s great-grandmother, Florence Brooks Whitehouse, was a novelist, painter, vocalist and mother of three sons. In 1914, she joined the movement that helped move suffrage forward in Maine. Gass will talk about Whitehouse’s leadership in that movement, which resulted in the Maine Legislature ratifying the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Slides of historic photos will accompany this talk, according to a news release from Liz Rothrock with the society.
Gass helped advise the Maine State Museum on developing an exhibit in honor of the 100-year anniversary of Maine’s ratification of the 19th Amendment. She also serves on the Steering Committee of the Maine Suffrage Centennial Collaborative, as the Maine Coordinator for the National Votes for Women Trail, and is an appointee to Maine’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.
Gass has authored a book about her grandmother, “Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage.” She has also written “We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip,” a historical fiction novel based on the true story of a 1915 road trip for the suffrage cause.
This talk is free of admission and open to the public; the venue is handicap accessible. Refreshments will be served.
For more information, email cantonmehistorical@gmail.com or visit cantonmehistory.org or the society’s Facebook page.
Check out other upcoming area events!
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
