Book Club
BookReviews
from our Book Club
The Woman’s Hour
By Elaine Weiss
ARTICLE BY CAROL H.
The Woman’s Hour begins with three
women speeding by rail towards
Nashville to lobby and campaign—
Carrie Chapman Catt, the influential
president of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association; Sue White,
a young Tennessee activist for the more
radical National Women’s Party; and
Josephine Pearson, a well-educated and
connected Tennessean and a formidable
anti-suffragist. Congress passed the
19th Amendment in 1919; ratification
is needed in 36 states for it to become
federal law; by July, 1920, 35 states have
ratified, 12 have rejected or refused to
vote, and one last state is needed. It all
comes down to Tennessee, the moment
of truth for the suffragists, after a 70-
year crusade. “Thus, for several weeks
that summer, in and around Nashville’s
statehouse, a frenetic pageant of political
organizing, lobbying, demonstrating,
and double-crossing unfolded.”
Elaine Weiss retells the Nashville events
through the activities of these three
women, explaining the strategies and
philosophies of both major “Suff” parties
and how they mobilized to raise money,
28 The Clubs within Our Club