NASHVILLE, TN — The dedication of the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument is being held on the 100th anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote. The Tennessee General Assembly passed the law ratifying the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, August 18, 1920. The private event begins at 10:30 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 and concludes at 11:45 at the site of the monument, beside the Parthenon.
A squad of professional women skydivers from the Highlight Pro Skydiving Team will begin the program diving from a plane 6,000 feet above the site. They will carry banners denoting the suffrage centennial and will parachute into Centennial Park at 10:30 a.m. and remain in the park for press interviews. The program includes a welcome by Metro Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Metro Parks Director Monique Odom. Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument board president, Yvonne Wood, will serve as moderator. Speakers include authors Tyler Boyd and Bill Haltom, as well as Guilford Dudley III and Trevania Dudley Henderson, grandchildren of suffragist Anne Dallas Dudley, Claudia Bonnyman and Ellen Davis, granddaughters of Governor A.H. Roberts who signed the ratification document, Davidson County Historian
Dr. Carole Bucy, Tennessee Historical Commission director Patrick McIntyre, co-chair of Mayor’s Council on Women, Anne Davis, Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey, Judge Aleta Trauger, and American Idol Finalist, Kason Lester, will perform “America, the Beautiful.”
The Tennessee Woman Suffrage monument, Inc. donated the Monument to Metro government so that it can be viewed and enjoyed by many hundreds now and for generations to come. TWSM, a group of nine women from across Tennessee, initiated and implemented the plan and raised private funds to commission the monument memorializing the Tennessee Suffragists who played such a vital role in 1920 for all women to gain the right to vote. More information on the vote is available at https://sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/tsla/exhibits/suffrage/struggle.htm
The monument, reaching 11 feet into the air, was created by renowned Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire. It includes statues of five women who were involved in Tennessee’s final ratification battle in 1920: Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville, Frankie Pierce of Nashville, Abby Crawford Milton of Chattanooga, Sue Shelton White of Jackson and Carrie Chapman Catt, National American Woman Suffrage Association president who came to Tennessee to direct the pro-suffrage forces.
The ceremony is not open to the public because of the limitation placed on public gatherings due to Covid 19; however, a live news feed will be on site.
Also, the event will be filmed and made available on TV stations, YouTube and other social media outlets. You can view the dedication virtually beginning at 10:15 am at https://vodayo.com/womansuffragemonument/.