Evansville was part of the national movement to give women the right to vote, and a new historical marker memorializes an important local suffragette.
Lucia E. Blount lived in Evansville with her family and formed the Equal Suffrage Society in 1886 where the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library central campus is currently located.
Evansville is now part of the National Votes for Women Trail — a project by the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites.
The League of Women Voters of Southwest Indiana, along with the city of Evansville and the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library unveiled a new historic marker right on the central library grounds on May 10.
Roberta Heiman is with the league of women voters. She researched Lucia Blount, and used her information for the unveiling ceremony.
She said stories around the suffrage movement tend to focus on national heroes like Susan B. Anthony.
“The truth is that most of the suffrage activity took place on the home front and cities like Evansville and Newburgh and New Harmony," she said. "And those women were the ones who organized and circulated the petitions and and gave speeches day after day, year after year, and yet they've been disregarded in history. So it's time to recognize their efforts.”
Heiman said when Blount lived in Washington D.C., she did host Susan B. Anthony when the famous suffragette was in the city.
Heiman said the movement for women’s rights continues to this day and such markers are an important reminder.