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by B. Ayne Cantrell (Author)
IN SWELTERING NASHVILLE IN 1920, the divided Tennessee General Assembly debates the amendment that would give women the right to vote. Emotions run high. Suffragist leaders in town for a rally include Sue Shelton White of Jackson and Nashville's own Anne Dallas Dudley. Suffragists distribute yellow roses to supporters; anti-suffragists hand out red roses. Local African American suffragist J. Frankie Pierce is eager to speak. While all participants named in this one-act play are actual historical figures, their coming together at this time and place is imaginary. Author B. Ayne Cantrell includes authentic speeches, but the historical period is condensed for dramatic effect.The play resounds with voices of women fighting for the vote and highlights the important place of Tennessee women in that battle. Well researched and including biographies of the suffragist speakers, the text stands alone for any reader interested in the historical context of the woman vote. As a performance vehicle or as Readers Theatre for amateur and school groups, Tennessee Women for the Vote celebrates the centennial of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.
