100 Year Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote in Tennessee

By: Maya Cohen

It has been one-hundred years since women obtained the right to vote in the United States. Tennessee was the thirty-sixth state to ratify the nineteenth amendment. The summer before the 1920 Election, only 35 states had ratified the amendment, when 36 were needed for ratification into the constitution. Anti-Suffrage and Suffragettes met at a general assembly to discuss the law. Women like Ann Dallas Dudley, Abby Crawford, and Sue Shelton were some of many loud and proud suffragettes during the summer of 1920. The summer entailed much argument and thick tension, but the bill was finally passed in August.

To remember and commemorate that fateful year, there are many community events to help. You can visit the Historic Suffragette exhibit at the Hermitage House, or watch “72 steps” a TPAC and Nashville Ballet collaboration. If you want to stay more local, APSU is having commemorative events all year long Happy 2020!


Bibliography:
“APSU Commemorating Women's Suffrage Anniversary with Year of Special Events.” Austin Peay State University, www.apsu.edu/news/september-2019-suffrage-events.php.
“Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemoration Events.” Visit Nashville TN, 8 Jan. 2020, www.visitmusiccity.com/19thamendment/events.
“Women's Suffrage: Tennessee and the Passage of the 19th Amendment.” Women's Suffrage: Tennessee and the Passage of the 19th Amendment | Tennessee Secretary of State, sos.tn.gov/products/tsla/womens-suffrage-tennessee-and-passage-19th-amendment.