By Audrey Grutzik ,2025-2026 Research Collaborator at Power in Place
Not many people have the opportunity to move halfway across the country, much less create and significantly contribute to a community in their new home city. But that's exactly what Estelle Hall Young did. Born Estelle Hall in 1884, she lived in Atlanta, Georgia until she got married. She attended Spelman College and Atlanta University, studying to become a teacher. When she got married to Dr. Howard E. Young in 1905, she moved to Baltimore, Maryland.
Once in Baltimore, Estelle Hall Young didn’t hesitate to join local suffrage and activist groups, creating a community for herself. In 1915 she created a chapter of the Progressive Women’s Suffrage Club, also called the Colored Women’s Suffrage Club, in West Baltimore, and served as its first president. Estelle Hall Young additionally joined the Dubois Circle, an academic group focused on discussing literature, public policy, history, and more while simultaneously advocating for women’s suffrage. Two other notable suffragettes at the time, Augusta Chissell and Margaret Hawkins, were also involved in the Progressive Women’s Suffrage Club and the Dubois Circle. Agusta Chissell was born in Baltimore in 1880 and was heavily involved in her community through many organizations that supported Black women’s rights. Margaret Hawkins was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and worked as a school teacher before becoming involved in women’s suffrage, similar to Estelle Hall Young. These three women would host the meetings for the Progressive Women’s Suffrage Club and Dubois Circle in their homes on Druid Avenue in West Baltimore, now part of the Baltimore Historic District. Once the Progressive Women’s Suffrage Club grew too big for their homes, meetings moved to Baltimore’s Colored Young Women’s Christian Association’s headquarters, also on Druid Avenue. Many of the already existing women’s suffrage groups in Maryland only accepted white women, forcing Black women and other women of color to create their own suffrage groups. Estelle Hall Young’s group, the Progressive Women’s Suffrage Club, was one of these groups born out of segregation and racism in white suffrage groups. Estelle Hall Young served as the founder and first president of this group, while Margaret Hawkins served as its first vice-president and Augusta Chissell served as its first secretary. While the Progressive Women’s Suffrage Club was founded with the goal of advancing voting rights for Black women, the Club additionally focused on many other pertinent issues that Black women faced, such as segregation, public education disparities, lynching, and housing issues. Not much is known about what happened to the Progressive Women’s Suffrage Club, but during its time, it was highly influential and had an impact on the Baltimore community thanks to Estelle Hall Young, Augusta Chissell, and Margaret Hawkins. The Dubois Circle was formed in 1906 by Margaret Hawkins and four other prominent Black women in Baltimore. The Circle was founded to support the work of Dr. W. E. B. Dubois, a Black activist and intellectual whom Estelle Hall Young studied under when she was in college in Atlanta. Estelle Hall Young and Augusta Chissell eventually both joined the Dubois Circle alongside Margaret Hawkins. At first, the Dubois Circle was dedicated to discussing academic works, but over time they began to advocate for things such as education, housing, and health rights, as well as voting rights for Black people. The Dubois Circle continues to meet to this day, and is one of the oldest Black women’s organizations in Maryland. Without the work of Estelle Hall Young and her neighbors and friends Augusta Chissell and Margaret Hawkins, important organizations that dedicated themselves to fighting for the rights and suffrage of Black women would likely not have had such an impact on the Baltimore community.
References
https://mdwomensheritagecenter.org/directory-suffragebios/listing/estelle-hall-young/ https://mdhistoricaltrust.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/beyond-the-right-to-vote-african-american-women-of-the-maryland-suffrage-movement/ https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/756 https://mdwomensheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Marker-brochureFinal-for-printing-060724.pdf https://www.theduboiscircle.org/history https://ballotandbeyond.org/dubois-circle-inspired-fighting-against-injustice/
Audrey Grutzik is a sophomore at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where she studies political science, philosophy, and English literature. Audrey enjoys researching and learning about the law, civil rights, and women's history. In the future she hopes to go to law school and become a civil rights lawyer.