Talk & Tasting: Grit and Gusto: Farmerettes and Suffragettes

In the rural areas of Maryland, including Montgomery County, farms suffered extreme shortages of workers as men left for the war at the same time the world was looking to America as Europe was on the brink of starvation. Farm work became a patriotic crusade for women, and suffragettes encouraged a new kind of farm worker called farmerette. Female grit and gusto made a difference in Maryland during the war and helped pave the way to the passage of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote.
Judith Welles is the author of two books on Montgomery County, Cabin John: Legends and Life of an Uncommon Place, published in 2008, and “Lilly Stone,” published in 2012. She is a member of the Montgomery History‘s Speaker’s Bureau and speaks on a number of topics.Reception features a tea tasting from Hemp Kettle Tea Company located in Laurel, MD. Hemp Kettle Tea Company brings unique and delicious blends of organic loose leaf teas, herbs, and spices with organic hemp.Reception is at 3:00 and the Talk is at 3:30.PHOTO: “Farmerettes” working on horse-drawn wagon pulling hay-loading machine on Montgomery County, Maryland farm, circa 1918. Collection of the Montgomery County Historical Society.