Equality Trailblazers Monument

         Photos by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

Alan LeQuire’s sculpture in Centennial Park includes five women who were involved in Tennessee’s ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 which secured the right to vote for women. The figures are Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville (front right), Frankie Pierce of Nashville (back left), Carrie Chapman Catt (national suffrage leader who came to Tennessee for the final battle – front left), Sue Shelton White of Jackson, (back center) and Abby Crawford Milton of Chattanooga (back right).

Funds were raised privately across the state and from outside the state. The first donors were an exclusive group of women who contributed the seed money to provide support for the design and construction of a life-size sculpture in Nashville. This was The Perfect 36 Society. The following women are the initial donors:

• Carolyn Dunn Akins – Nashville
• Felicia Anchor – Nashville
• Betty Taylor Anderson – Nashville
• LeTonia Hardin Armstrong – Knoxville
• Jan Klenz Averwater – Lakeland
• Jan Babiak – Leiper’s Fork
• J. Jolene Bailey – Germantown
• Holly Meadows Baird – Joelton
• Dorothy Helen Sanford Baldwin – Springfield
• Eloise Banks – Memphis
• Megan Barry – Nashville
• Beth Bates – Jackson
• Dana Battaglia – Nashville
• Margaret L. Behm – Nashville
• Cathy Bender – Hermitage
• Barbara Bennett – Nashville
• Sandra McMullin Bennett – Manchester
• Lee Anne Wood Benz – Hendersonville
• Mary Dorrian Bettis – Nashville
• Marsha Blackburn – Brentwood
• Melissa Blackburn – Nashville
• Claudia Bonnyman – Nashville
• Barbara Bovender – Nashville
• Anne Brandt – Nashville
• Lauren Brisky – Hendersonville
• Mary Frances Bristow – Brentwood
• Cathy Stewart Brown – Nashville
• Devon Parker Brown – Nashville
• Kelly Mari Brown – Nashville
• Sara Shallenberger Brown – Nashville
• Patsy Bruce – Nashville
• Diane Underwood Cambron – Cordova
• Irene Campbell – Decaturville
• Karen Camper – Memphis
• Ayne Cantrell – Murfreesboro
• Lee Anne Carmack – Murfreesboro
• Anne Carr – Nashville
• Kathleen F. Carroll – Nashville
• Frances Flora Casey – Old Hickory
• Paula Flora Casey – Memphis
• Agenia Clark – Brentwood
• Connie Clark – Franklin
• Mary Clement – Nashville
• Kathy Cloninger – Nashville
• Andrea Conte – Nashville
• Colleen Conway-Welch – Nashville
• Joan Cronan – Knoxville
• Inez Crutchfield – Nashville
• Sheila Jordan Cunningham – Memphis
• Beth Curley – Nashville
• Martha Craig Daughtrey – Nashville
• Ellen Davis – Nashville
• Dot Dobbins – Nashville
• Mary Alice Dobbins – Memphis
• Rebecca Farley Dodson – Brentwood
• Laura Dunbar – Nashville
• Susanne Dalton Dupes – Knoxville
• Marcia McCarron Eason – Signal Mountain
• Jamie A. Eskind – Nashville
• Madeline Doni Eskind – Nashville
• Judy Fabling – Brentwood
• Mary Beltz Falls – Nashville
• Amy J. Farrar – Murfreesboro
• Jo Federspiel – Nashville
• Sandra Franklin – Signal Mountain
• Meagan Frazier Grosvenor – Burns
• Mary W. Freeman – Memphis
• Brenda A. Gadd – Sunbright
• Julia S. Gibbons – Memphis
• Brenda Gilmore – Nashville
• Catherine A. Gilreath – Knoxville
• Jean F. Gomes – Chattanooga
• Deborah Wood Graham – Gallatin
• Twila Jucknath Graham – Nashville
• Christi Griffin – Mt. Juliet
• Catherine H. Gwyn – Hermitage
• Mary Beth Hagan – Murfreesboro
• Marjorie Calixte Hallworth – Port-Au-Prince, HA
• Claudia Swafford Haltom – Memphis
• Ruth Ann Harnisch – Hampton Bays, NY
• Beth Harwell – Nashville
• Marjorie Feltus Hawkins – Nashville
• Barbara Haynes – Goodlettsville
• Jacque Hillman – Jackson
• Janice M. Holder – Memphis
• Carolyn Goostree Humphreys – Mt. Juliet
• Donna HySmith – Nashville
• Claudia Jack – Columbia
• Judy Carole Johnson – Nashville
• Karen Y. Peterman Johnson – Antioch
• Happy Snowden Jones – Memphis
• Sherry Jones – Nashville
• Joni Hunter Kies – Goodlettsville
• Rosalva M. King – Memphis
• Marilyn Klenz – Germantown
• Ellen Cooper Klyce – Memphis
• Linda Whitlow Knight – Nashville
• Grace L. Kroeger – Franklin
• Rosalind C. Kurita – Clarksville
• Sharon G. Lee – Madisonville
• Doni Lee Lehman – Nashville
• Ellen Eskind Lehman – Nashville
• Ruth Willingham Lentz – Memphis
• Sally Jo Lewis – Nashville
• Jan Abby Liff – Nashville
• Sharonne Gooch Lincoln – Hendersonville
• Sheryl Lipman – Memphis
• Jennifer Inman Little – Bean Station
• Paula Lovell – Nashville
• Mary Lowery – Memphis
• Vicky Klenz Lyon – Memphis
• Nancy MacLean – Brentwood
• Jan D. Maddox – Hermitage
• Angela Malik – Nolensville
• Deidre Carter Malone – Memphis
• Rhonda L. Marko – Nashville
• Beverly Kay Marrero – Memphis
• Becky Duncan Massey – Knoxville
• Amanda McClendon – Old Hickory
• Carol McCoy – Nashville
• Mary Ann McNamara – Boston, MA
• Pat Medley – Knoxville
• Doris Medlin – Jackson
• Mary Jo Middlebrooks – Jackson
• Linda Moss Mines – Chattanooga
• Dana E. Moore – Nashville
• Elliott G. Moore – Bristol
• Gloria Wilson Moore – Joelton
• Phyllis D. Morriss – Springfield
• Patricia Head Moskal – Nashville
• Barbara J. Moss – Nashville
• Jean C. Nelson – Nashville
• Kathy Nevill – Hermitage
• Regina Morrison Newman – Memphis
• Kathleen D. Norfleet – Memphis
• Janice Norman – Brentwood
• Linda Norman – Franklin
• Patricia Ormandy – Portland
• Adrienne Pakis-Gillon – Germantown
• Elizabeth Downing Papel – Nashville
• Margaret N. Perry – Brentwood
• Rosetta Miller-Perry – Nashville
• Lela Jones Pierce – Harriman
• Patricia A. Pierce – Harriman
• Freda Player – Nashville
• Candice Anderson Poole – Chattanooga
• Nellie Hamilton Powell – Memphis
• Rebecca Lynn Price – Memphis
• Cynthia Ragan – Nashville
• Shirley Carol Raines – Memphis
• Sue Raley – Nashville
• Nancy Ransom – Nashville
• Gayle Ray – Nashville
• Linda Eskind Rebrovick – Nashville
• Pamela L. Reeves – Knoxville
• Kylie Grace Rezabek – Jackson
• Sandra Robbins – Martin
• Emily Davis Robinson – Franklin
• Rebecca Paige Robinson – Franklin
• Leah J. Roen – Memphis
• Madeline Rogero – Knoxville
• Helen Sfikas Rogers – Nashville
• Anne Roos – Nashville
• Gayle S. Rose – Memphis
• Linda Rudolph – Clarksville
• Suzanne Watson Rushworth – Chattanooga
• Alma Frances Sanford – Antioch
• Mary Sasser – Nashville
• Jean Schmidt – Brentwood
• Cynthia Nancy Sellers – Nashville
• Heidi Shafer – Memphis
• Patricia Glaser Shea – Nashville
• JoAnne Thompson Skidmore – Murfreesboro
• Janet F. Smith – Columbia
• Constance Smith-Burwell – Nashville
• Wanda Sobieski – Knoxville
• Carol Soloman – Goodlettsville
• Janis Baird Sontany – Nashville
• Patricia Kim Soto – Hermitage
• Grace E. Speer – Beech Grove
• Gretta Stanger – Cookeville
• Grace Stranch – Nashville
• Jane Stranch – Nashville
• Zulfat Suara – Bolivar
• Clare D. Sullivan – Nashville
• Linda Sullivan – Knoxville
• Deborah Taylor Tate – Nashville
• Laurie Murphey Thornton – Memphis
• Candy Toler – Nashville
• Leticia W. Towns – Memphis
• Aleta Arthur Trauger – Nashville
• Sheila Cook Turk – Nashville
• Christi Turner – Nashville
• Katherine Turner – Nashville
• Jackie Utley – Jackson
• Deborah Varallo – Nashville
• Kathleen Armour Walker – Brownsville
• Jennifer Ward – Knoxville
• Amy P. Weirich – Memphis
• Tracy White – Kingsport
• Mary Wilder – Memphis
• Leigh A. Williams – Hendersonville
• Betsy McNamara Wills – Nashville
• Elizabeth Meade Wills – Nashville
• Heather Wills – Nashville
• Irene Jackson Wills – Nashville
• Jean Carter Wilson – Nashville
• Susan Spikes Wilson – Chattanooga
• Beth Winstead – Franklin
• Dena Wise – Knoxville
• Lee Yvonne Culbreath Wood – Lebanon
• Kathy Wood-Dobbins – Nashville
• Saralee Woods – Nashville
• Sonya Smith Wright – Lebanon
• Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg – Memphis
• Patricia R. Young – Brentwood
• Donna Yurdin – Nashville
• Rachel Zamata – Nashville

After the success of The Perfect 36 Society, another group of women and men donated for The Yellow Rose Society. Those donors are:

• Abbey Adkins – Nashville
• Lainie J. Allbee – Mt. Juliet
• Darlene Austin – Nashville
• Betta Lea Bain – Harriman
• Melinda S. Balser – Nashville
• E. Menie Kabigting Bell – Nashville
• Cynthia Bennett – Nashville
• Wanda Miller Benson – Nashville
• Carol B. Berz – Chattanooga
• Virginia Trotter Betts – Nashville
• Jacqueline Blanch – Memphis
• Christine Bradley – Nashville
• Jan Lewis Brandes – Nashville
• Cecil Branstetter – Nashville
• Charlotte Branstetter – Nashville
• Mary Barrett Brewer – Nashville
• Cathy Stewart Brown – Nashville
• Katherine Y. Brown – Nashville
• Shallenberger Brown – Nashville
• Louise Hall Browning – Nashville
• L.K. Browning – Franklin
• Vanessa Pettigrew Bryan – Franklin
• Linda Doherty Buckles – Kingsport
• Rebecca Ann Burke – Franklin
• Martha Ann Burton  – Mt. Juliet
• Jean L. Byassee – Nashville
• Wynne du Mariau Caffey-Knight – Knoxville
• Rose P. Cantrell – Nashville
• Gale Jones Carson – Memphis
• Genny Carter – Nashville
• Jacqueline Sontany Carter – Murfreesboro
• Denty Cheatham – Nashville
• Will T.  Cheek – Nashville
• Grace Chermely – Knoxville
• Julia Chermely – Knoxville
• Sue Chilton – Nashville
• Eliza Lo Chin – Piedmont, CA
• Karen T. Christensen –  Lebanon
• Laurie Christensen – Drummonds
• Haley Rochelle Clark – Brentwood
• Karen Noel Cochran – Nashville
• Stephen I. Cohen – Memphis
• Chase Cole – Nashville
• Lynn D. Constan  –  Cookeville
• Minnie Malone Cook – Memphis
• Norma Cox Cook – Knoxville
• Hortense P. Cooper – Nashville
• Nancy King Crawford – Hendersonville
• Laura Creekmore – Nashville
• Constance Marie Bower Cromwell – Franklin
• Elizabeth Buckner Crook – Nashville
• B. Claire Crouch – Cosby
• Hollie Larsen Cummings – Brentwood
• Mary Francis Cunnyngham – Cleveland
• Terri Curran – Crossville
• Frances Bond Davis – Nashville
• Donna R. Davis-Beltz – Knoxville
• Bob Day – Nashville
• Elizabeth E. DeBauche – Nashville
• Roberta Ellen Dickerson-Gebhard – Grand Island, NY
• Deborah L. Dixon – Nashville
• Bernice Bouie Donald – Memphis
• Janice O. Donelson – Memphis
• Lewis R. Donelson – Memphis
• Dianne Shofner Doochin – Nashville
• Patty Dougherty – Memphis
• Guilford Dudley, III – Tijeras, NM
• Denise D. Duncan – Lakeland
• Mary Estelle Eason  – Oak Ridge
• Margaret Emmett – Oak Ridge
• Annette S. Eskind – Nashville
• Laurie Gold Eskind – Nashville
• Alpha Farr Hembree Eve – Harriman
• Ellen E. Fite – Memphis
• Craig Fitzhugh – Ripley
• Helen Delores Ford – Memphis
• Beth Fortune – Brentwood
• Amy Goldman Fowler – Memphis
• Cary Fowler – Memphis
• Grace B. Freeman – Greenville, MS
• Nancy Fullerton – Nashville
• Beulah Garrett – Lebanon
• Doug Gillon – Memphis
• Martha Claire Gillon – Germantown
• William A. Gillon – Germantown
• Jerry Gist – Jackson
• Patricia Pierce Goss – Harriman
• Judy Stanfill Graham – South Pittsburg
• Judy B. Greenwood – Kingston Springs
• Ina Sue Groves – Knoxville
• Farzanna S. Haffizulla – Davie, FL
• Anne M. Hall – Murfreesboro
• Laura Hall – Huntsville
• Ruth Ann Harnisch – Hampton Bays, NY
• Luvenia R. Harrison – Nashville
• Joyce Harkins Harvey – Waverly
• Barbara Haynes – Goodlettsville
• Katherine Van Deusen Hely – Chattanooga
• Lynn Victoria Day Hembree – Signal Mountain
• Trevania Dallas Dudley Henderson – Boston, MA
• Roy Herron – Dresden
• Nancy Miller-Herron – Dresden
• Suzanna W. Hershey – Nashville
• Linda J. Higgins – Jackson
• Mary Wyatt High – Nashville
• Erin Kate High – Nashville
• Bernice Kephart Hinson – Nashville
• Mary Lee Wible Hoge –  Nashville
• Laura Hollingsworth – Nashville
• Saletta Holloway – Nashville
• Linda L. Holmes – Memphis
• Ashley Joan Horne – Nashville
• Vicki Horne – Brentwood
• Helen L. Huff – Nashville
• Susan Allen Huggins – Nashville
• Martha Ingram – Nashville
• Laura Jack – Danville, KY
• Sheri Orenstein Jacobs – Nashville
• Patricia Brown James – Murfreesboro
• Ruth Johnson – Nashville
• Mina Johnson – Nashville
• Barbara E. Jones – Mobile, AL
• Lynda Jones – Nashville
• Mary Loventhal Jones – Nashville
• Jill Jones-Lazuka – Cookeville
• Adela Andal Kabigting – Nashville
• Anne Keeney – Memphis
• Mike Keeney – Memphis
• Edith Kelly-Green – Memphis
• Pamela Dunn Kidd – Nashville
• Holly Kirby – Memphis
• Charlotte Knight Griffin – Memphis
• Rosalind C. Kurita – Clarksville
• Sara P. Kyle – Memphis
• Carolyn HHS Landreth – Monterey
• Jane Evins Leonard – Smithville
• Acadia LeQuire – Nashville
• Susan N. Folger Lodal – Kingsport
• Virginia Lodge – Nashville
• Sandra Galbraith Long – White House
• Elizabeth Hudgins Longmire – Hendersonville
• Wendy L. Longmire – Nashville
• Kim Harvey Looney – Nashville
• Andrea J. Loughry – Murfreesboro
• Mary J. MacRae – Ashland City
• Susan Mallory – Memphis
• Wanda Hembree Manning – Rockwood
• LaQuita Martin  – Nashville
• Theresa M. Mauer – Memphis
• Jacqueline Davis Mayo – Memphis
• Sara Helen McCarron –  Lubbock,  TX
• Sara Prindle McCarron – Houston, TX
• Mary H. McDaniel – Collierville
• Katherine L. McGill – Nashville
• Barbara Meadows – Joelton
• Kim McMillan – Clarksville
• Rita Mitchell – Nashville
• Jacqueline Walton Mitchell – Mt. Juliet
• George Crawford Jackson Moore – West Palm Beach, FL
• Hazel Moore – Memphis
• Kimbrough B. Mullins – Memphis
• Gail Murray – Memphis
• Marty Nord – Nashville
• Sallie King Norton – Nashville
• Ambra Offutt – Goodlettsville
• Sarah McConnell Ognibene – Memphis
• Birdie Cunningham Orr – Farmington
• Marian Ott – Nashville
• Anna Lou Webb Owens – Dyer
• Barbara Ann Owens – Franklin
• Kimberlyn Casey Owens-Hughes – Franklin
• Anna Page – Nashville
• Rose Palermo – Nashville
• Gayley Patterson – Nashville
• Mary Anita Patterson – Mt. Juliet
• Barbara Paul – Nashville
• Joyce D.  Peacock – Nashville
• Marjorie Thrower Peek- Franklin
• Craig Philip – Nashville
• Martha Martin Pile – Clarksville
• Patricia McClellan Poole – Nashville
• Gracie R. Porter – Nashville
• Jeanne S. Preston – Franklin
• Ann Jarvis Pruitt – Nashville
• Phyllis Qualls-Brooks – Antioch
• Evelyn Irene Raines – Bells
• Janice Carol Redmond – Bristol
• Charlotte Stout Reynolds – Crossville
• Lois Riggins-Ezzell – Nashville
• Beverly C. Robertson – Memphis
• Marilyn Robinson – Nashville
• Ellen Robinson Rolfes – Memphis
• Cheryl Wurzburg Rubenstein – Memphis
• Mary Linden Salter – Nashville
• Marlene Sanders – Antioch
• Elizabeth Tran Byassee Saum – Nashville
• Linda Peek Schacht – Franklin
• Jeanette Faith Schatz – Nashville
• Annie B. Schledwitz – Memphis
• Stacey Schlitz – Franklin
• Mary Jane Burton Scott –  Mt. Juliet
• Joyce Espy Searcy – Nashville
• Linda Warren Seely – Jackson
• Martha Shepard – Dickson
• Marietta Shipley – Nashville
• Susan Simons – Nashville
• Millie May Sims – Nashville
• Pearl Sims – Nashville
• Sadie Lee Sims – Nashville
• Sophia Lee Sims  – Nashville
• Paula Skahan – Memphis
• Alexandra Smith-Hiles – Columbia
• Maida Pearson Smith – Memphis
• Melissa Smith – Guthrie, KY
• Calvin Smyre – Columbus, GA
• Tammy Sneed – Millington
• Paula Snyder – Franklin
• Jamie Elaine Sontany –  Nashville
• Holly Spann – Nashville
• Brenda S. Speer – Pulaski
• Felicitas I. Spence – Nashville
• Seth Stanger – Cookeville
• Frank Stevens, Jr. – Franklin
• Nicole Stranch – Memphis
• Patty Stranch – Franklin
• Victoria Stranch – Memphis
• Kendall Stivers – London, KY
• Jim Strickland – Memphis
• Melyne Strickland – Memphis
• Hope S. Stringer – Nashville
• Kathleen Strehl Swineford  – Dickson
• Victoria Elisabeth Surratt – Stantonville
• Edith L. Taylor – Oak Ridge
• Elizabeth Tipping – Joelton
• Candy Toler – Nashville
• LoLita D. Toney – Nashville
• Johnnie R. Turner – Memphis
• Tamara Turner – Memphis
• Abigail Tylor – Nashville
• Eleanor Tylor – Nashville
• Osta M. Underwood – Nashville
• Jeanne Varnell – Memphis
• Jennifer J. Verner – Nashville
• Stacie Martin Waddell – Memphis
• Emily Foster Walker – Brentwood
• Lisa E. Walker – Ashland City
• Jeanette Wattinger Warren – Germantown
• Beverly L. Watts – Nashville
• Faye J. Weaver – Nashville
• Whitney Weeks – Nashville
• Lain Whitaker – Memphis
• Judy Gail Beasley Whitehill – Murfreesboro
• Jerry B. Williams – Nashville
• Lynn Stinnett Williams – Nashville
• Felicia Carole Wilt – Nashville
• Ishmael Murphy Wood – Lebanon
• George Andrew Wood – Hendersonville
• Marc Alan Wood – Lebanon
• Sylvia S. Woods – Knoxville
• Minda Leigh Wurzburg – Memphis
• Brenda P. Wynn – Nashville
• Cynthia Brunson Yancey – Mars Hill, NC
• Lynn Hardy Yeakel – Rosemont, PA
• Theresa Zuckowsky – Nashville

The late Rep. Lois DeBerry was honored by friends and family with the Five-Five Society since her birthday was May 5. Those donors are:

Raumesh Akbari
Calvin Anderson
Joe Armstrong
Gordon Ball
Mathew Boyer
Carmichael Boyer
Gale Jones Carson
Nancy-Ann DeParle
Greg Duckett
Louise Johnson Holman
Kevin Lavender
May Lavender
David McMahan
Hazel Moore
Gwen Moore
Albert Richardson, Jr.
Reginald Tate
Charles Traughber
Janice Penny
Rayburn Traughber
Bonita Traughber
Merritt Traughber

“Tennessee Triumph”

Tennessee’s newest suffrage statue unveiled in Clarksville on August 15. 2020. It’s called “Tennessee Triumph” and is located on the public square near City Hall.

Paula Casey and Bill Haltom were at The Hermitage Hotel with Joe Hanover’s bust and Bill’s new book, “Why Can’t Mother Vote?” on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. The bust will be featured on the upcoming Memphis Suffrage Monument “Equality Trailblazers” this Spring.

To purchase Bill’s book visit www.billhaltom.com 

Book Release & Signing Event – “Why Can’t Mother Vote?” Written by Bill Haltom

Thank you to everyone that could make it out to Bounty and Broad Tuesday night for the book release and signing of “Why Can’t Mother Vote?” written by author, speaker, and attorney Bill Haltom. Featured here with Bill Haltom is Paula Casey with the TN Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail and publisher Jacque Hillman.

Haltom’s new book is now available in The Hermitage Hotel’s gift shop

Tyler Boyd and Sarah Hurley visited the TN Woman Suffrage Monument in Centennial Park earlier this summer (2019). Tyler is the great-grand-nephew of Harry Burn, who was in the 1920 special session of the Tennessee legislature and cast the deciding vote for the 19th Amendment’s ratification. He has written a book about his great-grand-uncle that can be ordered by clicking on this link: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467143189

Link: Tennessee women have voted with pride for 100 years

Knox County League of Women Voters celebrate at the newly unveiled Burn Memorial in downtown Knoxville on June 9, 2018.

100th Anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote 

Maryville Celebrates 100 Years: 19th Amendment for Women’s Right to Vote 1920-2020

Images from The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Woman Suffrage

The 3 Tennessee Trailblazers

 These 3 Tennessee Trailblazers are featured around the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument in Nashville’s Centennial Park.

Tennessee State Markers

First Woman Elected to the State House

Honoring Constance Rudolph Brown (March 19, 1886 – June 6, 1941)

The Clarksville-Montgomery County 2020 Vision Committee placed the first suffragist grave marker honoring Constance Rudolph Brown. The Yellow Rose Marker is placed flush with her gravestone in Sango Cemetery. She is the first local suffragist identified. In the Montgomery County courthouse, a picture of a few good men and a large number of women shows her in the front row holding a suffrage banner. During the votes for women campaign in 1917, Constance Rudolph was a rural school teacher and not yet married. Vicki O’Guin in Sango did the work in securing needed permission and Brenda Harper got the thumbs up from her niece, Rosemary Kalmar, to honor Ms. Brown.

Tennessee Suffrage Gravesites and Statues