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“National Council of Women: Federated Body of Over a Score of Great National Societies of Women to Meet Here To-Morrow,” 1897.
“National Council of Women: Federated Body of Over a Score of Great National Societies of Women to Meet Here To-Morrow,” 1897.
In May of 1897, Memphis suffrage advocate and traveling lecturer Lide Merryweather organized the first statewide meeting of women's' suffrage advocates in Nashville. There they formed a new organization, the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association (TESA), with Merryweather as its first president (Taylor).
On October 25th of that year the National Council of Women held a meeting at the same location (DePeder). Susan B. Anthony was among the attendees.
These meetings were both held in the Women's Building (right) at the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition, which ran from May 1st to October 31, 1897. This was not the building that would later become the Knoxville Woman's Building, but likely played a large role in inspiring the project.
The Centennial Exposition Woman's BuildingImage: Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA)
Detail
Detail
(1) The Women's Building,(2) The Knoxville Building, which would later become the Knoxville Woman's Building
These two events kicked off a period of concerted Woman's Suffrage organizing in Tennessee.
A Memphis chapter of TESA was founded in May 1889, followed by additional chapters throughout the state (Taylor). In Knoxville, suffrage activities continued as informal goals of other organizations, such as the Ossoli Circle, until Lizzie Crozier French founded the Knoxville chapter of TESA in 1910 (Taylor).
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