Telegram & Gazette: Suffragist Sarah E. Wall honored with marker at location of home that city took in 1863
Editor's note: the following story originally appeared in the Telegram & Gazette, written by Toni Caushi.
WORCESTER – A marker honoring a 19th-century Worcester suffragist was unveiled Monday at Sycamore and Main streets.
The marker observes Sarah E. Wall’s efforts toward women’s rights when she refused to pay property taxes on her home at 2 Sycamore St. starting in 1851 on account of not being able to vote as a woman.
Her 1857 petition prompted a city tax collector, George H. Wheeler, to sue her in a case that reached the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1863.
Even though Wall lost the case and the property, she continued to not pay taxes until she died in 1907.
The 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits states from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex, was not certified until 1920.
Councilor Bergman on 'heroes'
At-Large City Councilor Morris Bergman, who had first nominated for the marker to be erected in 2020, spoke at the event.
Mayor Joseph M. Petty, Acting City Manager Eric D. Batista and city councilors also attended.
“This marker adds to the markers of other heroes and heroines throughout the city of Worcester who have contributed to our nation's collective history and have also called the city of Worcester their home,” said Bergman.
The marker was installed by the city Department of Public Works.
Its unveiling was held Monday due to the date’s significance in Worcester history.
On Oct. 23 and Oct. 24, 1850, Worcester hosted the first National Woman’s Rights Convention at Brinley Hall on Main Street, where women’s rights and anti-slavery advocates, such as Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, spoke.
The marker for Wall is the third one unveiled in the state through funding from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and the Suffrage100MA, a nonprofit organization.
Cambridge and Northampton
Two more markers will be unveiled in 2023, one in Cambridge for activist Maria Baldwin and in Northampton for abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
Fredie Kay, who founded Suffrage100MA in 2010 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment, also spoke at the event.
"There currently is no marker recognition for Sarah Wall and Worcester other than her grave marker. She has fallen into obscurity and my effort is to bring her name back into the prominence she deserves," said Kay. “This marker is for all ages and all different backgrounds to recognize that people have had to fight for their rights."