Laura Byrne | Serving Suffrage With A Smile

This episode of Ballot and Beyond, contributed by the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center, was researched by Dan Materazzi, authored by Paulette Lutz and Executive Director Shawn Gladden of the Howard Co. Historical Society.  It was read by Elizabeth Bobo, First Female County Executive in Maryland and longtime history, voting rights and gender equity advocate.  She is also the Howard Co. Year of the Woman liaison and a volunteer with Maryland Women’s Heritage Center.

On the local level, Mrs. Bernard J. Byrne, also known as Laura Laurenson Byrne, led the fight for Women’s Suffrage in Howard County along with her daughter Laura Byrne Hickok. As the President of the Howard County Just Government League, Laura Byrne worked tirelessly to inform and educate all women of Howard County regardless of race, religion, or political persuasion.  Often traveling all over the county, when most of the roads were dirt or gravel, she visited the ladies on the farms who did not get into town frequently or did not have access to newspapers. In 1911, the Evening Sun in Baltimore reported the Suffrage Movement in Howard County to be flourishing. Most of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Howard County took place between 1910 and 1920.     

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