The Knoxville History Project will present an online event today (7/23) from 6-7 p.m. on the history of women’s suffrage in Knoxville. The speaker is Laura Still, writer and leader of Knoxville Walking Tours. Register in advance here.
In setting up the event, the writer says Knoxville may be the only city in America with two statues commemorating the suffrage movement. Hey, Knoxville is the only city in America with Wanda Sobieski, the driving force behind both.
The suffrage statue on Market Square depicts three Tennessee women, one from each grand division of the state, who led the way for women to get the right to vote – 100 years ago. A similar statue stands in Centennial Park in Nashville and in Memphis. The life-size bronze statue commemorates Lizzie Crozier French, Anne Dallas Dudley, and Elizabeth Avery Meriwether.
The new addition depicts the late Harry Burn of Niota and his mother, Febb Burn. As a young man, he was the deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And Tennessee was the final state to ratify, making Harry’s vote decisive. And he voted yes because of encouragement from his mother.