The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation® Partner to Launch Marker Grant Program Supporting the National Votes for Women Trail with the First Marker honoring Susan Look Avery.
The centennial of suffrage for many women in the United States is approaching in 2020. With this landmark anniversary embodied in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (NCWHS) and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation have partnered to launch a new historic marker program commemorating the history of women’s suffrage in the U.S.
The first marker will be dedicated at 11:15 a.m. on March 6, 2019, at The Woman’s Club of Louisville in Louisville, KY, to commemorate the work of Susan Look Avery who founded the Woman’s Club of Louisville and The Wyoming Equality Club (later the Susan Look Avery Club), co-founded the Louisville Suffrage Association (later the Louisville Equal Rights Association) and was a charter member of The Warsaw Equality Club. In addition to NCWHS President Marsha Weinstein, Pomeroy Foundation Trustee Deryn Pomeroy, and an Avery family descendant, the dedication ceremony will feature Spalding University President Tori Murden McClure, the first woman & first American to row solo across the Atlantic and first woman & first American to ski the South Pole.
Historic markers awarded through the program will highlight sites on the National Votes for Women Trail (NVWT). The NVWT, a project of the NCWHS, identifies the many sites that were integral to the suffrage movement, and makes them accessible on a mobile friendly website to be easily searched by location, suffragist, ethnicity, and a variety of other useful criteria. The Pomeroy Foundation, which is a private, grant-making foundation based in Syracuse, N.Y., is providing grants through its National Women’s Suffrage Marker Grant Program to recognize historically significant people, places or things across the United States instrumental to women gaining the right to vote.
About The Woman’s Club of Louisville
The Woman’s Club of Louisville was organized with the continuing purpose of promoting and supporting civic improvements, championing the educational and philanthropic needs of the community – especially where women and children are concerned – and cultivating the fine arts. Established on March 1, 1890 as a woman’s volunteer organization for civic, cultural and community services. The WCL promoted woman’s suffrage, equal property rights, and child labor laws. They sponsored the KY Forestry Commission, Juvenile Court, literacy and public health. They began the Younger Woman’s Club and a No-Jury Art Show. They are the co-founder of the Louisville Deaf Oral School, now known as Heuser Hearing Institute. Visit: www.wclouisville.org
About The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (NCWHS)
The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites is a non-profit organization established to support and promote the preservation and interpretation of sites and locales that bear witness to women’s participation in American history. NCWHS is dedicated to making women’s contributions to history visible so all women’s experiences and potential are fully valued. Visit: www.ncwhs.org
About the William G. Pomeroy Foundation
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation is a private foundation established in 2005. The Foundation is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and to raising awareness, supporting research and improving the quality of care for patients and their families who are facing a blood cancer diagnosis. To date, the Foundation has awarded nearly 800 grants for historic signage in New York State and beyond. Visit: www.wgpfoundation.org
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
The Woman’s Club of Louisville
Dedication Co-Chairs Gail Deye (502) 551-5441, GmDeye@gmail.com, or Margaret Young (502) 445-5843, Magyoung9@aol.com