Preservation Maryland’s women’s suffrage public history project, Ballot & Beyond, has been recognized for Excellence in Media and Publications from the Maryland Historical Trust.
Ballot & Beyond is a free, on-demand online exhibit and podcast that serves to commemorate Maryland’s suffragists and show their legacy on more contemporary female leaders in Maryland.
Across the fifty-five episodes, there is a great temporal, geographic, personal, and topic diversity – from Margaret Brent’s early suffrage efforts to Pauli Murray’s unique national impact, and from Rachel Carson’s research and writings to Henrietta Lack’s unending importance to science.
The Ballot & Beyond project was a collaborative project from the very beginning – and benefited from the many agencies, organizations, experts, and volunteers that brought years of research to a broad public audience. This award is shared with the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center. Thirty-one researchers, writers, editors, and readers worked on fifty-five episodes that highlight the accomplishments of sixty-five remarkable Maryland women.
Commenting on the task of selecting the cohort of women featured on the podcast, Diana Bailey, Executive Director of Maryland Women’s Heritage Area, explained, “We are especially concerned with representing the critical intersectionality of race and gender in the history of the suffrage movement as new documentation comes to light.”
Preservation Maryland crafted eight videos with historic maps and archival images for eight Ballot & Beyond episodes thanks to support from Maryland Humanities through The Voices and Votes Electoral Engagement Project is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered through the Federation of State Humanities Councils for its new initiative, “Why It Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation.”
First Lady Yumi Hogan and Delegate Brooke Lierman were supportive of Preservation Maryland award nominations for the project and submitted official letters of support.
List of Maryland women featured on Ballot & Beyond: Victorine Q. Adams, Jean Baker, Clara Barton, Willa Bickham, Lucy Fisher Gwynne Branham, Lucy Branham, Margaret Gregory Brent, Laura Byrne, Lola Carson, Rachel Carson, Augusta Chissell, Mary Jane Clark Howard, Lucille Clifton, Sadie Jacobs Crockin, Honorable Rita C. Davidson, Eliza Lily Deringer Kelly, Dr. Liebe Sokol Diamond, Mary Bartlett Dixon, Emily Doetsch, Madeline Lemoyne Ellicott, Honorable Lavinia Margaret Engle, Elizabeth Forbes, Emma Maddox Funck, Bea Gaddy, Carolyn Hallowell Miller, Virginia Hallowell Miller, Mrs. Edward H. Harris, Sr., Margaret Gregory Hawkins, Sarah Hemminger, Billie Holiday, Edith Houghton Hooker, Elizabeth King Ellicott, Ellen Newbold La Motte, Henrietta Lacks, Edna Latimer, Majory Matthew, Anne Baker Maxwell, Anne Delia Melvin, Mary Melvin, Nannie V. Melvin, Sally Michel, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Sarah T. Miller, Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Judge Diana G. Motz, Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, Nora Myer, Honorable Gladys Noon Spellman, Mary Pickersgill, Lilian Reeves Crawford, Mary Risteau, Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Lucy Diggs Slowe, Catherine Sweet, Dr. Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, Sandi Timmins, Florence Trail, Bertha Trail, Harriet Tubman, Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, Senator Verda Welcome, Dr. Lillian Welsh, Sara A. Whitehurst, and Estelle Hall Young.
Full list of Ballot & Beyond contributors: Meagan Baco, Diana Bailey, Elizabeth Bobo, Kate Campbell Stevenson, Jana Carey, Beverly Carter, Elly Colmers Cowan, Shauntee Daniels, Jessica Feldt, Shawn Gladden, Kimberly Golden-Brandt, Sally T. Grant, Ida Jones, Ph.D., Paulette Lutz, Dan Materazzi, Dr. Adele Newson-Horst, Audrey Partington, Victoria Patterson, Kacy Rohn, Dr. Amy Rosenkrans, Kathi Santora, Tina Sheller, Amanda Shores Davis, Larzine Talley, Kalin Thomas, Jean Thompson, Christine R. Valeriann, Diane E. Weaver, Ph.D., Allison Weiss, Rev. Canon Sandye A. Wilson. Pamela Young.