Anne B. Gass

Anne B. Gass developed her passion for women’s rights history while writing a book about her amazing activist great-grandmother; Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage, which was published in 2014. In 2015 the research for her next book led Anne on a cross-country journey, retracing the route intrepid suffrage activists had taken a century before to demand voting rights for women from Congress and the President. The result was We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip, a historical novel, published in 2021.

Anne draws strength from all the women who fought so long and hard for equality, and loves finding and telling the stories of courageous women forgotten by history. She speaks frequently on her research at public schools, colleges, libraries, historical societies and other groups in hopes of inspiring others to continue the struggle.

Following in her great-grandmother’s footsteps, Anne is active in a number of different causes. She currently serves on Maine’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and as Vice-Chair of the Gray Town Council. In 2020-21 she served as a co-curator for a social justice exhibit at Maine Historical Society called “Begin Again: Reckoning with Intolerance in Maine.” She served on the steering committee of the Maine Suffrage Centennial Collaborative, helping to build awareness of women’s fight for suffrage and the 2020 centennial. She also serves as the Maine coordinator of the National Votes for Women Trail.

Anne is the founder and principal of ABG Consulting LLC, a small business supporting nonprofits, local and state governments, and foundations in their efforts to help people in need build stable, productive lives. In this capacity, she has helped clients win over $170 million in federal grant funding.