Memphis Suffrage Monument Completed at University of Memphis Law School
By Paula F. Casey
It took American suffragists 72 years to win the right to vote, which was the greatest nonviolent revolution in the history of our country. It took us five years to complete the "Equality Trailblazers" monument at the University of Memphis law school facing the Mississippi River.
The monument honors those who were instrumental in the fight for American women to WIN the right to vote. No one gave them anything. The monument also features those whose political careers were made possible by the suffragists' victory.
The location of the monument at the law school is fitting since there are three lawyers featured on the monument - Marion Griffin, Rep. Joe Hanover, and Frances G. Loring. It's about the 19th Amendment and the rule of law. The suffragists believed in democracy and the rule of law and that all citizens should have a say in their government.
Those who followed after the suffragists' victory in 1920 exemplified what they fought for. Now that democracy is under attack in our country, it is gratifying to memorialize those who believed strongly in it.
The Downtown Memphis Commission has a great website about the monument where you can read and learn more about it: https://downtownmemphis.com/suffrage-monument/
Alan LeQuire, our artist and sculptor, has stated he wants to spend the rest of his career memorializing those who were significant in the suffrage struggle. The Memphis Suffrage Monument is an artistic as well as an engineering feat. LED lights come up through each of the 14 panels at dusk and go off at daylight. On overcast days, the lights remain on. It is beautiful in the daytime as well as at night. It can be seen from the I-40 bridge, the Mississippi River and Riverside Drive.
This monument will remain after we're all gone telling the story of these remarkable people.
Equality Trailblazers Honored with Busts and Etched Glass Panels:
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 the state of Tennessee, 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
Other Equality Trailblazers Honored with Etched Glass Panels:
Lide Smith Meriwether: Early suffragist who had national recognition
Lulu Colyar Reese: Later suffragist, 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
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