Meet Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Suffragist Brought to Virtual Life on 100th Anniversary of Women Winning Right to Vote

By Krista Pfunder

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the constitutional right to vote.

Calvert Library, The League of Women Voters of Calvert County and other community partners teamed up with actress Mary Ann Jung to bring suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton to life before a Zoom audience.

Jung is known to locals for past performances at Calvert Library and for playing characters such as Grace O’Malley, The Pirate Queen, at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.

“I love bringing fantastic heroines of history to life,” Jung says. “Normally my shows are live and I get audience members up to be in the shows but alas with the pandemic, I’ve switched to online shows. They’re still lively, nothing is cut and I do include the audience when I can.”

“Ms. Stanton was an abolitionist, a social activist and is often credited with starting the first organized women’s suffrage movement in the United States,” says Robyn Truslow, public relations coordinator for Calvert Library.

Jung played the role of Stanton at the National Archives in Washington, DC for their Heroes of History Sleepovers.

“I found Stanton much more interesting than women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony because Stanton was married with seven children,” Jung says. “I come from a family of seven and was intrigued how she could balance her work and home life back then. She was also impatient and outspoken which I can relate to.”

As Jung researched her character, she began to find herself liking Stanton more and more.

“One of my favorite Stanton quotes “Men in the Senate have heads the size of apples,’” Jung says. “It didn’t endear her to them but I will not do dry lectures and it says a lot about why some folks felt she was too radical.” 

Check the CBM Bay Weekly Bay Planner for more Library events or visit Jung’s site at www.historyaliveshows.com to find her latest historical performances.