Celebrate Women’s History with a selfie!
Every year, when we celebrate Women’s History Month, I am newly inspired by Lombard history-maker Ellen Martin. She was the brave lawyer who led a group of women to vote in a village election in 1891 – nearly three decades before the 19th Amendment recognized American women’s right to vote.
Martin was a smart, savvy attorney who graduated from the University of Michigan law school in 1875 and was admitted to the Illinois bar the next year.
As a woman working as a lawyer in the 19th century, Martin had spent much of her career advocating for women’s rights. So she noticed that the Lombard village charter had accidentally included gender-neutral language. It read, “All citizens of said state of Illinois, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been actual residents of said town of Lombard ninety days next preceding any election held under the provisions of this act, shall be entitled to vote at any such election.” (Note that the charter said “All citizens,” not “All male citizens.”)
When Martin read the charter language, she saw her chance. She rounded up 14 of her women friends, and they marched together to the village polling place. Together, she and her friends made history – even though the village leaders quickly rewrote the charter after they realized their mistake (of forgetting that women were citizens, too.)
We remember Ellen Martin as the leader of the group. But those 14 women remind us that courage is contagious, and that when we stand up for what we believe in, our courage can change the world. So I want to honor them today as well. As reported by the Chicago Tribune in 1891, the other women who voted were Miss Margaret Towne, Mrs. N. Cushing, Mrs. S. R. Thurston, Mrs. C. B. Vance, Mrs. H. S. Rand, Mrs. J. H. Patterson, Miss Maria Reade, Mrs. Isaac Claflin, Mrs. Cynthia Williams, Mrs. H. B. Rand, Mrs. W. R. Plum, Mrs. B. R. Reynolds, Mrs. C. L. Towne, and Mrs. H. W. Plum. (You may know Mrs. W.R. Plum better as Helen Plum, the namesake of Lombard’s public library – and the person who first brought lilacs to the village!)
As Women’s History Month continues, I’d like to ask you to show your support by taking a selfie in front of the historical marker outside the Lombard Historical Society (at 23 W. Maple St. in Lombard) and posting on our Facebook page. Let’s show those brave women that we remember them today.