Mar 17

Mar 17 Doing It For Themselves

New Marker Symbolizes A Ground Zero Center in the Fight For Women’s Right To Vote

By Hamil R. Harris

One hundred years before Candace B. Hollingsworth became the first African American Mayor of Hyattsville, a group of women gathered in a ballpark along Rhode Island Avenue to take part in rally calling for women to get the right to vote.

On a July day in 1913, a group of women calling themselves, the “Couriers to Congress,” rallied and then got into 60 cars, road to Capitol Hill and dropped off 75,000 petitions to Congress in support of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.

“Many of us in public service would not have been able to do this had it not been for this movement,” said Hollingsworth who recently took part in the dedication of a historical marker March 3 that now stands as a permanent reminder of the women who paved the way for women’s right to vote.

Hollingsworth, Major General Linda L. Singh of the Maryland National Guard, Delegate Tawana Gaines and other lawmakers were all in Hyattsville to dedicate the new marker.

Even though they faced insults, harassment and bodily harm, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that was ratified by two-thirds of the States in August of 1920.

As she looked out at the Girl Scouts of Troop 6899, General Singh said what they were doing today is paving the way for a new generation. She said it means everything for women to get the right to vote.

“I couldn’t wear the uniform, I couldn’t be a General if the women didn’t fight for this,” Singh said in an interview with Prince George’s Suite. “I couldn’t vote for this country and when I think about the legacy that we are going to leave it makes me excited.”