CHAPTER 1
“Regard outlook hopeless under present conditions”: Marjorie Shuler in Nashville to Mrs. Frank Shuler at NAWSA headquarters in New York City, Western Union Telegram, July 10, 1920, Catt Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville.
“The Anti-Suffs will flood Tennessee with the most outrageous literature”: Carrie Catt to Mrs. John Kenny, June 29, 1920, in Catt Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
“Suffrage Map”: Versions of the suffrage map were published and displayed by both NAWSA and the Woman’s Party and appeared regularly in their publications: NAWSA’s Woman’s Journal/Woman Citizen and the National Woman’s Party’s Suffragist.
“Suffrage supporters feel certain that Tennessee will rise to the occasion”: “Nation Looks to Solons of State for Ratification,” Nashville Tennessean, July 18, 1920.
“Our forces are being notified to rally at once”: Josephine A. Pearson, “My Story: Of How and Why I Became an Antisuffrage Leader,” dated April 30, 1939, Josephine A. Pearson Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives, microfilm reel #1.
“Lady Warrior”: Biographical details from “Sue Shelton White: Lady Warrior,” in Tennessee Women: Their Lives and Times, vol. 1, Sarah Wilkerson Freeman and Beverly Greene Bond, eds. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2009), 140–63; James P. Louis, “Sue Shelton White and the Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, 1913–1920,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 22, no. 2 (1963): 170–90; James P. Louis, “Sue Shelton White,” in Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, 1607–1950, ed. Edward T. James et al. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), III: 590–92; Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, New Women of the New South: The Leaders of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the Southern States (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). Wheeler, Votes for Women! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995), 214–23.
“relentlessly”: White’s report to Alice Paul, June 29, 1920, in National Woman’s Party Papers, Library of Congress, microfilm reel #79; also in “Suffs Ask for $10,000 for Tennessee Fight,” Baltimore Sun, July 5, 1920.
CHAPTER 2
His 1916 manifesto: An Address to the Men of Tennessee on Female Suffrage, by John J. Vertrees, pamphlet (Nashville, 1916) in Abby Crawford Milton Papers, Scrapbooks, Tennessee State Library and Archives. Also reprinted in Wheeler, Votes for Women!, 197–213.
CHAPTER 4
She recalled that once, as a little girl, in a fit of rage: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More (1898) (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993).
Declaration of Sentiments: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan Bronwell Anthony, et al., eds., History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 1. (New York: Fowler and Wells, 1881), 53.
“Woman’s Rights Man”: Philip S. Foner, ed., Frederick Douglass on Women’s Rights (Westport and London: Greenwood Press, 1976), 10–15.
“That is just what I wanted”: Elizabeth Stanton to Lucretia Mott, September 30, 1848, in Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Harriot Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth Cady Stanton as Revealed in Her Letters, Diary and Reminiscences, II: 20–22.
“I forged the thunderbolts”: Stanton, Eighty Years, 165.
“There can never be true peace in this republic”: Descriptions of the work of the Woman’s Loyal League can be found in Eleanor Flexner and Ellen Fitzpatrick, Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996), 103–6; Venet, 94–122; Faye E. Dudden, Fighting Chance: The Struggle over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage in Reconstruction America (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press), 51–57.
CHAPTER 5
“My time, my strength, and my influence”: “Cox Promises to Help,” Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1920; “Cox Promises Aid to Suffs,” Baltimore Sun, July 17, 1920.
“return to normalcy”: “Harding Finishes Acceptance Speech,” New York Times, July 18, 1920.
“The womanhood of America”: Text of Warren G. Harding’s acceptance speech, New York Times, July 23, 1920.
“Only by action”: “Women Displeased by Harding’s Stand,” New York Times, July 23, 1920.
CHAPTER 6
“The very safety of Southern civilization”: Mrs. James S. Pinckard to Gov. James Cox, July 26, 1920, reprinted in Woman Patriot 4, no. 31 (July 31, 1920).
“We are determined to prevent”: “Antis will fight,” Chattanooga Times, July 18, 1920.
“sex war”: Rowe’s testimony is in “Extending the Right of Suffrage to Women: Hearings Before the Committee on Woman Suffrage,” House of Representatives, Sixty-Fifth Congress, on H. J. Res. 200. January 3–7, 1918, 323.
“What will the Negro woman do”: Pierce’s speech is in Nashville Tennessean, May 19, 1920, p. 8; also quoted in Carol Lynn Yellin, Janann Sherman, and Ilene Jones Cornwell, The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Woman Suffrage (Memphis: Serviceberry Press, 1998), 71–73; and Anita Shafer Goodstein, “A Rare Alliance: African American and White Women in the Tennessee Elections of 1919 and 1920,” Journal of Southern History 64, no. 2 (May 1998): 239.
CHAPTER 7
“I have come to help you”: Catt to Tennessee League of Women Voters, Nashville, July 21, 1920, Catt Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
“That unheard from number”: Catt to Tennessee League of Women Voters, Nashville, July 21, 1920, Catt Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
She didn’t beat around the bush: Details of Catt’s speech in “Catt Talks to Kiwanis Club,” Nashville Banner, July 23, 1920, and in “Catt Defends Ratification Plans,” Nashville Banner, July 24, 1920.
She and Marjorie Shuler quickly wrote a press release: Press release, July 25, 1920, Abby Milton Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives; “Tennessee Safe for Suffrage Says Mrs. Catt,” Nashville Tennessean, July 26, 1920; “Poll Suffrage Majority,” Washington Post, July 26, 1920.
That morning the Banner had published an attack letter: Nashville Banner, July 25, 1920.
CHAPTER 8
“The President is responsible for the betrayal of American Womanhood”: Description of the protest from Sue Shelton White, “Militant Suffragists and How They Won a Hopeless Cause,” written for the Montgomery (AL) Times, August 1919, unpublished typescript, White Papers, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University; “The Demonstration of February 9,” Suffragist, February 22, 1919; Louisine Havemeyer, “Memories of a Militant: The Prison Special,” Scribners, May 1922; “Suffragists Burn Wilson in Effigy,” New York Times, February 10, 1919; Stevens, chapter 22.
Louisine, who was a wealthy New York widow: Louisine Havemeyer, “Memories of a Militant: The Prison Special,” Scribners, May 1922.
“I unalterably oppose suffrage” and Cannot vote for amendment: “Harding Fails to Change Candler’s View,” Chattanooga News, July 28, 1920, Catt Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
Lady here wants to know: This telephone call is described in Inez Haynes Irwin, The Story of Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party (Fairfax, VA: Denlinger’s Publishers, Ltd., 1964), 473. Irwin interviewed Pollitzer and other Woman’s Party staff working in Tennessee as soon as they returned to headquarters in Washington.
Harry will be all right: Pollitzer to Paul, July 29, 1920, National Woman’s Party Papers, Library of Congress.
CHAPTER 9
keep your “hands off”: Letter to the presidential candidates in “Nominees Urged to Leave Suffrage Alone,” Nashville Tennessean, August 6, 1920. Letter to Tennessee Legislators in “Officers Named to Constitution League,” Nashville Tennessean, August 4, 1920.
At noon on Wednesday: “Mrs. Catt Is Luncheon Guest,” Chattanooga News, August 4, 1920.
CHAPTER 10
“re-open the horrors of Reconstruction”: “Anti-Suffragists to Open Exhibit Here,” Nashville Banner, n.d. (early August 1920). Anti-ratification literature in Josephine Pearson Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
“Mrs. Catt’s Bible”: “Anti-Suffragists to Open Exhibit Here,” Nashville Banner, n.d. (early August 1920). Anti-ratification literature in Catt Papers and Josephine Pearson Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
CHAPTER 11
He’d had a “change of conviction”: William’s meeting with Seth Walker is described in Carol Lynn Yellin, “Countdown in Tennessee, 1920,” American Heritage 30 (1978): 12–23, 27–35, 97.
“mysterious influences”: “Mighty Battle Is in Prospect over Suffrage,” Nashville Tennesseean, August 8, 1920.
CHAPTER 12
“Tennessee occupies a pivotal position”: “Roberts Urges Ratification,” Nashville Banner, August 9, 1920.
That’s when he finally revealed himself: Irwin, 469. See also “Eyes on Solons,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 9, 1920; and “Ratification More Remote,” Chattanooga Times, August 10, 1920.
Seth was now announcing: “Ratification Seems More Remote,” Chattanooga Times, August 11, 1920; “Suffrage Resolution to Go to Committee,” Nashville Tennesseean, August 11, 1920; “Miss Williams Gets Factions Together,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 10, 1920.
“I’d let the old Capitol crumble”: Knoxville Journal, August 11, 1920, quoted in a letter from Mary Winsor to Betty Gram Swing, July 6, 1943, in Betty Gram Swing papers, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University. Gram’s encounter with Walker is also related in “Outlook Not Encouraging,” Charlotte (NC) Observer, August 11, 1920; “Speaker Walker to Fight Suffrage Resolution,” Chattanooga Times, August 11, 1920; and “Suffs Turning on Democrats in Tennessee,” Baltimore Sun, August 11, 1920.
“I have absolute confidence”: “Move Made to Block Suffrage Vote,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 11, 1920.
“We are not going to be thrust aside”: “Outlook Not Encouraging,” Charlotte (NC) Observer, August 11, 1920.
“I have become convinced”: “Speaker Walker to Fight: Other Members Join in Opposition,” Chattanooga Times, August 11, 1920.
CHAPTER 13
As William stood before the chamber: Accounts in “Defeat Effort to Defer Ratification,” Nashville Banner, August 11, 1920; “House Beats Motion to Refer Suffrage,” Nashville Tennesseean, August 12, 1920; “Move Is Made to Block Suffrage Vote by Postponement,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 11, 1920; “Effort to Postpone Action on Suffrage,” Chattanooga News, August 11, 1920; “Postponement Would Mean Procrastination,” Chattanooga News, August 11, 1920; and “Suffs Win in Tennessee,” Charlotte (NC) Observer, August 12, 1920.
“The people of Tennessee have already passed” and The roll call began: “Defeat Effort to Defer Ratification,” Nashville Banner, August 11, 1920.
“The eyes of the United States” and “Suffrage leaders are working”: Accounts of the debate are in “Debate Suffrage at Joint Hearing,” Nashville Banner, August 13, 1920; “Ratification Is Debated Before Packed Audience,” Nashville Tennessean, August 13, 1920; “Harding Letter Depresses Suffs,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 13, 1920; “Gen. Cates Turns Batteries on Traducers of Tennessee Womanhood,” Chattanooga News, August 13, 1920; “Candidate Will Not Urge Vote,” Chattanooga Times, August 13, 1920; and New York Times, August 13, 1920.
CHAPTER 14
The committee “is of the opinion” and This federal amendment: Accounts of the debate and passage are in “Senate Ratifies Suffrage Amendment,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 13, 1920; “Senate Ratifies Suffrage After Fight,” Nashville Tennessean, August 14, 1920; “State Senate Ratifies,” Chattanooga News; “Senate Ratifies by Expected Majority,” Nashville Banner, August 13, 1920; “Senators Bow Under Lash of Bosses,” Chattanooga Times, August 14, 1920; “Tennessee Senate Ratifies,” New York Times, August 14, 1920; “Upper House Votes to Ratify,” Charlotte (NC) Observer, August 14, 1920; and “Candler Hissed by Senators,” Chattanooga News, August 14, 1920.
“That is the most unfortunate”: “Action Expected on Tuesday,” Harrisburg (PA) Evening News, August 13, 1920.
CHAPTER 15
Big deal!: “Senate Action Does Not Worry Antis,” Nashville Banner, August 14, 1920.
“the earnest hope that the house”: “Wilson Wires to Walker for Aid,” Nashville Tennessean, August 14, 1920.
“I have the profound”: “Can’t Vote Contrary to His Conviction,” Chattanooga News, August 14, 1920; “Tension Relaxes in Suff Battle,” Nashville Tennessean, August 15, 1920.
“vulgar, ignorant, insane”: Jacqueline Van Voris, Carrie Chapman Catt: A Public Life (New York: Feminist Press, 1987), 160; Catt in Woman Citizen, September 4, 1920.
“I believe one of the most powerful lobbies”: “Big Interests in Plot,” Charlotte (NC) Observer, August 16, 1920; “Declare a Strong Lobby Is Working in Tennessee,” Harrisburg (PA) Evening News, August 16, 1920.
“We now have 35½ states”: Catt to Mary Gray Peck, August 15, 1920, Catt Papers, Library of Congress. Also in Mary Gray Peck, Carrie Chapman Catt: A Biography (New York: H. W. Wilson, 1944), 335.
CHAPTER 16
“We’ve got ’em”: Robert B. Jones and Mark E. Byrnes, “The ‘Bitterest Fight’: The Tennessee General Assembly and the Nineteenth Amendment,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 68, no. 3 (Fall 2009): 275, quoting from Knoxville Journal and Tribune, August 17, 1920.
“I have here the pledges”: “House Delays Suffrage Vote Until Today,” Nashville Tennessean, August 18, 1920.
“I cannot pledge myself”: Irwin, 473–74.
CHAPTER 17
“We really trusted you”: Irwin, 474.
“The hour has come”: Accounts of the vote in “Suffrage Amendment Adopted by House,” Nashville Tennessean, August 19, 1920; “Tennessee Now Perfect 36,” Chattanooga News, August 18, 1920; “House Passes Resolution,” Chattanooga Times, August 19, 1920; “Suffrage Forces Victorious in House,” Nashville Banner, August 18, 1920; “Tennessee Solons Ratify Suffrage,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 18, 1920; “Tennessee Completes Suffrage Victory,” New York Times, August 19, 1920; “Suffrage Ratification Completed,” New York Tribune, August 19, 1920; “Tennessee Ratifies,” Washington Post, August 19, 1920; and “Speaker Walker Changes Vote,” Baltimore Sun, August 19, 1920.
In his jacket pocket sat the letter: Letter of Phoebe (Febb) Ensminger Burn to Harry Burn, August 17, 1920, in Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Library, Knoxville, TN.
CHAPTER 18
“Splendid Work. Hold the Fort”: Congratulatory telegrams in National Woman’s Party Papers, Library of Congress.
“The civilization of the world” and “All along I have wished”: “Ratification Acclaimed by Party Heads,” Nashville Tennessean, August 18, 1920.
“Our mothers began it”: “Mrs. Catt Tells of Fight,” Baltimore Sun, August 19, 1920.
“With the power to vote achieved”: “Colby to Proclaim Suffrage Promptly,” New York Times, August 19, 1920.
“The action of Tennessee”: Franklin D. Roosevelt to A. H. Roberts, Roberts Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
But Albert also received other telegrams: Men of Fayetville to Gov. A. H. Roberts, August 18, 1920, and W. Lamb to A. H. Roberts, August 18, 1920, in Roberts Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives; “Resentment in Lincoln County,” Nashville Banner, August 19, 1920.
“I want to state”: “Proud of Opportunity to Free Women,” Chattanooga News, August 19, 1920; “Tennessee Delays Fight,” Memphis News-Scimitar, August 19, 1920; “Charges of Fraud in Suffrage Fight,” New York Times, August 20, 1920.
“You are all heroes”: Nashville Tennessean, August 21, 1920.
“The victory is complete”: “Suffs Elated,” Nashville Tennessean, August 21, 1920.
“tired and heart-sick”: Pearson, “My Story,” and in Wheeler, Votes for Women!, 241.
“Woman’s Suffrage is now a fact”: “W. H. A. Moore,” Baltimore Afro-American, August 27, 1920.
On Friday morning: Peck, 340–42; “Bringing the Victors Home,” Woman Citizen, September 4, 1920.
“The vote is the emblem”: Catt in Woman Citizen, September 4, 1920; also in Peck, 342.
CHAPTER 19
“Tell us what you want voted”: Pearson, “My Story.”
“We must not rest”: Mary White Ovington, “Free Black as Well as White Women,” Suffragist, November 1920. Also handwritten letter to the editor of the Suffragist from Ella Rush Murray, November 15, 1920, NAACP Papers, Library of Congress.