Davidson County Democratic Women
The final dramatic showdown over the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote played out in 1920 in the Tennessee State Capitol.
Suffragists, identified by wearing yellow roses, needed one more state to ratify the amendment so it could become part of the U.S. Constitution, and Tennessee was their last chance. The Senate approved, but the House was thought to be evenly split.
Harry Burn from McMinn County, the youngest legislator, was against ratification and wore a red rose until he received a telegram from his mother urging him to vote in the affirmative. His "yeah" for the Amendment was the deciding vote.
The vote that took place in Nashville that day in August 1920 was the culmination of a 72 year battle that began in 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York when a group of women led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton called the first Women's Rights Convention.
Only 34 years later in 1954, Rilla Robertson Moran Woods founded the Davidson County Democratic Women's organization. And in 1957, she was one of the founders of the Tennessee Federation of Democratic Women. Then, in 1972, Ms. Woods helped found the National Federation of Democratic Women and served as its first President from 1982 to 1977. Ms. Woods and Gwendolyn Nation McFarland are the only two Tennessee women ever to serve as president of all three organizations.
Suffragists, identified by wearing yellow roses, needed one more state to ratify the amendment so it could become part of the U.S. Constitution, and Tennessee was their last chance. The Senate approved, but the House was thought to be evenly split.
Harry Burn from McMinn County, the youngest legislator, was against ratification and wore a red rose until he received a telegram from his mother urging him to vote in the affirmative. His "yeah" for the Amendment was the deciding vote.
The vote that took place in Nashville that day in August 1920 was the culmination of a 72 year battle that began in 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York when a group of women led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton called the first Women's Rights Convention.
Only 34 years later in 1954, Rilla Robertson Moran Woods founded the Davidson County Democratic Women's organization. And in 1957, she was one of the founders of the Tennessee Federation of Democratic Women. Then, in 1972, Ms. Woods helped found the National Federation of Democratic Women and served as its first President from 1982 to 1977. Ms. Woods and Gwendolyn Nation McFarland are the only two Tennessee women ever to serve as president of all three organizations.
