KNOXVILLE, TN — The effort to hide Black history, including the history of the African American women who fought to get the 19th amendment, from the youth is failing in Knoxville, Tennessee. I AM the Voice of the Voiceless and The Suffrage Coalition are being intentional to make it known how much women of color were a very important part of the movement by providing a platform for the children of the state of Tennessee to research and write about the women in their communities and across the country who were Black suffragists. Not only are they allowing the children to speak the truth, they plan to publish it for all eternity.
During the Shade of the Suffrage Showcase on March 28, the sponsors will announce the beginning of a two-year project: publication of a book of essays from children in grades 4 to 12 from all across Tennessee. This book will be published in a hardcover edition with the first two copies being presented in 2028 to the Beck Cultural Exchange Center and to the Women’s Suffrage Museum, which is slated to open in 2028. The first essay has already been prepared: the story of Ida B. Wells, one of the most formidable Black suffragists.
Braniah Dickey, a 9th grader at Fulton High School, has written and turned in the first of what will be hundreds of essays from the minds of children who are researching to find and tell the stories in their own voice. Braniah, in her essay, speaks of the many accomplishments of her heroine, saying, “I truly believe that Wells deserves much more recognition for what she did because it led many women to be inspired and break some walls they had to face.”
Braniah and other children who have written the opening essays of the project will be recognized and receive medallions and certificates during the showcase, which will provide an afternoon of storytelling about Knoxville suffragists through dance, prose, and song.
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