Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Frances Kolb Turnbell
Second Advisor
Carrie Barske-Crawford
Third Advisor
Ansley Quiros
Abstract
The state of Tennessee played a central part in the battle for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which would secure women’s right to vote. While the showdown in Nashville in August 1920 when suffragists and anti-suffragists descended upon the city to lobby for their respective sides gained a lot of attention for the state’s role in woman suffrage, the increasing opportunities of women outside the domestic sphere helped launch the suffrage movement. Educational opportunities, work outside the home, and voluntary societies were just a few of the ways that women stepped out into the public sphere. These endeavors outside the home helped women realize that in order to better effect change in their communities, they needed the ability to vote.
Higher education, especially in Southern states like Tennessee, introduced women to a life outside both real and imagined boundaries. Higher education helped create networks of like-minded women who wanted to continue to better themselves and communities, and women’s clubs were an avenue for these women to do so. The skills learned and confidence gained by participation in higher education and women’s clubs were invaluable in advancing the cause for woman suffrage in Tennessee.
Recommended Citation
Harris, Michelle P., ""We Pledge Ourselves to Use Our United Strength": Education, Women's Clubs, and the Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee" (2026). Theses. 56.
https://roar.una.edu/theses/56
