Abby Crawford Milton
Abby Crawford Milton (6 February 1881 – 2 May 1991[1]) was an American suffragist.[2][3] She was the last president of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association.[3] She traveled throughout Tennessee making speeches and organizing suffrage leagues in small communities.[3] In 1920, she, along with Anne Dallas Dudley and Catherine Talty Kenny, led the campaign in Tennessee to approve ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.[4][5] On August 18, Tennessee became the 36th and deciding state to ratify the amendment, thereby giving women the right to vote throughout the country.[6]
After the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, Milton became the first president of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.[3] She also worked toward the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and attended Democratic national conventions as a delegate-at-large.[3] In 1924 she gave the seconding nomination speech for William Gibbs McAdoo as he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.[3] In the late 1930s she ran for the Tennessee State Senate, but lost.[3]
On August 26, 2016, as part of Women's Equality Day, a monument by Alan LeQuire was unveiled in Centennial Park in Nashville, featuring depictions of Milton, Carrie Chapman Catt, Anne Dallas Dudley, Juno Frankie Pierce, and Sue Shelton White.[7][8]
Further reading
- Carole Stanford Bucy, "The Thrill of History Making: Suffrage Memories of Abby Crawford Milton," Tennessee Historical Quarterly 50 (1996): 224-39.
References
- ^ Gerontology Research Group: Photo gallery of supercentenarians born in 1881
- ^ Tennessee Through Time, The Later Years. Gibbs Smith. 1 August 2007. pp. 172–. ISBN 978-1-58685-806-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g Carole Stanford Bucy (December 25, 2009). "Abby Crawford Milton". The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, Version 2.0. Tennessee Historical Society. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
- ^ "Services For Mrs. Dudley To Be Held Thursday". Nashville Banner. September 14, 1955.
- ^ Anastatia Sims (1998). "Woman Suffrage Movement". In Carroll Van West. Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Tennessee Historical Society. ISBN 1-55853-599-3.
- ^ "Services For Mrs. Dudley To Be Held Thursday". Nashville Banner. September 14, 1955.
- ^ 5:33 PM, Aug 26, 2016. "Women's Suffrage Monument Unveiled - Story". Newschannel5.com. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Nashville's Newest Monument Celebrates State's Role In Women's Winning The Right To Vote". Nashville Public Radio. Retrieved 2016-08-27.