“Equality Trailblazers” Memphis Suffrage Monument to be Unveiled March 2020
Heralded and unheralded people will be featured on the upcoming Memphis Suffrage Monument to be located on the river side of the University of Memphis Law School. Unveiling for the “Equality Trailblazers” monument is planned for either March 27 or 28, 2020. The monument honors early and later suffragists as well as those women whose careers were made possible by the suffragists' victory.
Sculptor Alan LeQuire
The monument will have two steel walls with seven glass panels on each side, six bronze busts and LED lighting. The back side of the wall will feature women marching through the ages and will face the law school. The front will be visible from the Mississippi River, the I-40 bridge and Riverside Drive. It will be part of the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail, the Memphis Heritage trail, and the National Votes for Women Trail.
Any donation is welcome and is tax-deductible. Donor names of $1,000 per person or $1,500 per couple will be lasered in the glass. Mail checks payable to Vote 70, Inc., and mail to Paula F. Casey, 99 N. Main St., #901, Memphis TN 38103-5005. Or go to www.memphissuffragemonument.com to make a donation online. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to pfcasey@bellsouth.net
Alan LeQuire, who has done four other suffrage sculptures in Tennessee has sculpted the following six busts:
Ida B. Wells: Journalist, anti-lynching campaigner, later suffragist
Mary Church Terrell: Suffragist, champion of racial and gender equality
Marion Griffin: First woman to practice law in TN and the first woman elected to state House
Rep. Joe Hanover: House floor leader who kept pro-suffrage votes together, an ally of Carrie Chapman Catt, attorney, humanitarian
Charl Ormond Williams: A nationally known educator who coordinated state ratification efforts, stood by Gov. Roberts when he signed ratification papers
Rep. Lois DeBerry: First female Speaker Pro Tempore in Tennessee legislature, 40 years of public service
(Lois DeBerry – To make a donation in her honor, go to www.gofundme.com/loisdeberry)
All 13 individuals will have photos and bios lasered in the glass. Here are the other Equality Trailblazers:
Lide Smith Meriwether: Early suffragist who had national recognition
Lulu Colyar Reese: Later suffragist who was in Nashville in 1920
Alma H. Law: First woman to serve on Shelby County Quarterly Court, served until her death in 1947
Maxine Smith: Civil rights legend, NAACP Executive Director, registered large numbers of women to vote
Minerva Johnican: First black female on County Commission and City Council, ran for city mayor in 1987, was nationally recognized Criminal Court Clerk
Frances Grant Loring: Women’s rights and civil rights activist, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a founding member of the Association for Women Attorneys, Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, active League of Women Voters member
Happy Snowden Jones: Founding member of Panel of American Women, helped avert 2nd sanitation workers strike, the first donor to this monument, a feminist philanthropist who was the benefactor of The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Woman Suffrage book, e-book, and audiobook
There is a state historical marker of Tennessee's earliest suffragist, Elizabeth Avery Meriwether of Memphis, which will be placed in close proximity to the monument.
This monument will be important for heritage tourism. These were ordinary people who did extraordinary things because they believed in democracy and the rule of law. They deserve to be remembered. With the national centennial in 2020 of women winning the right to vote, there will be great interest in these monuments. Clarksville and Chattanooga are also unveiling suffrage statues in 2020.
The Memphis Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission are all planning events related to the monument.
View slideshow with more information.
Written by Paula F. Casey