On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee legislature ratified the 19th Amendment, the last state to do so providing the two thirds majority needed to grant women the right to vote. In practice, however, it insured voting rights for primarily white, middle and upper class women. Women of color were largely not entitled to vote. Native Americans did not become citizens until 1924 and Jim Crow laws, coupled with a violent Ku Klux Klan, ensured that women of color could no more exercise their right to vote in 1920 than Black men could after the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870.

Our panel of women will explore the impact of the 19th Amendment on women and particularly women of color.

Panelists: Paulette Brown, Justice Marsha Slough, Patricia Guadalupe

Moderator: Hon. Michelle Williams Court