DAVIDSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC WOMEN
  • Home
  • About
  • Membership
  • Run for office!
  • Events
  • Scholarships
  • DCDW Bylaws
  • Legislative Agenda
  • Contact Us

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. ​

Picture

PAST PRESIDENTS

1954 Campbell  Brown
1955 Louise Goad
1956 Maude Lynch
1957 Martha Farr
1958 Tennie Hickerson
1959 Anna Belle Clement O’Brien
1960 Joey Ellis
1961 Jewel Ellis
1962 Frank Cheatham
1963 Gerroll Hargis
1964 Harry Cornswet
1965 Anna Jane Notgrass
1966 David Price
1967 Ann Schott
1968 Dr. Pearle Bradley
1969 Rilla Woods
1970 Usan Moseley
1971 Evelyn Ayers
1972 Dr. Gwen McFarland
1973 Jane Eskind
1974 Jean Curran
1975 Inez Crutchfield
1976 Irene Zurla
1977 Ann Deol
1978 Carrie Gentry
1979 Janice Fisher
1980 Kathy Woodall
1981 Luvenia Butler
1982 Ann White
1983 Marian Latham
1984 Carol Crews
1985 Hazel Thomas
1986 Hazel Thomas
1987 Linda Inman
1988 Dr. Faye Lynch
1989 Carolyn Wood


1990 Sara Caldwell
1991 Sara Caldwell
1992 Brenda King
1993 Cindy Odie
1994 Frances F Douglas
1995 Lola Woolridge
1996 Nellie Carter
1997 Gloria Dumas
1998 Jo Gish
1999 Toby Abrams
2000 Perl Murray-Dunn
2001 Sharlyn D Douglas
2002 Carolyn Hunter
2003 Mary Taylor
2004 Dr. Tommie Young
2005 Carole Toler
2006 Dorothy L Grubbs
2007 Dr. Trevor J Holt
2008 Jo Gish
2009 Nancy Potts
2010 Holly Spann
2011 Lynda Jones
2012 Kathy Chambers
2013 Marisa Richmond
2014 Mary Linden Salter
2015 Sheryl Guinn
2016 Alma Sanford
2017 Cynthia Bennett
2018 Erin Coleman
2019 Shannon Wood
2020 Janis Sontany
2021 Kim Troup
2022 Jolie Grace Wareham
​2023 Maya Chavez 
2024 Teaka Jackson
​2025 Cheryl Mayes
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Membership
  • Run for office!
  • Events
  • Scholarships
  • DCDW Bylaws
  • Legislative Agenda
  • Contact Us