Anne Dallas Dudley
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Anne Dallas Dudley (born Annie Willis Dallas; November 13, 1876 – September 13, 1955) was an American activist in the
women's suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
. She was a national and state leader in the fight for women's suffrage who worked to secure the ratification of the 19th Amendment in Tennessee. After founding the Nashville Equal Suffrage League and serving as its president, Dudley moved up through the ranks of the movement, serving as President of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association and then as Vice President of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woma ...
, where she helped lead efforts to get the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, giving women the
right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...
nationwide. She is especially noted for her successful efforts to get the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in her home state of
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, the final state necessary to bring the amendment into force.


Early life and family

She was born Annie Willis Dallas in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, in 1876 to an upper-class family. Her father, Trevanion B. Dallas, had moved to Nashville in 1869 and established himself as an entrepreneur in the textile industry. Her grandfather, Alexander J. Dallas, had been a commodore in the U.S. Navy, while his brother, George M. Dallas, served as
Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...
under
James K. Polk James Knox Polk (; November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of Jacksonian democracy and ...
. Annie Dallas was educated at Ward's Seminary and Price's College for Young Ladies, both in Nashville. In 1902, in a quiet ceremony at Christ Church Cathedral, she married Guilford Dudley (1854–1945), a banker and insurance broker. Together they had three children, Ida Dallas Dudley (1903–1904), who died in infancy, Trevania Dallas Dudley (1905–1924), and Guilford Dudley Jr. (1907–2002).


Women's suffrage movement

A few years after being married, Anne Dallas Dudley became involved in the
temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...
as a supporter of alcohol
prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
. Through her work in the temperance movement and her association with friends such as Maria Daviess and Ida Clyde Clark, Dudley became convinced that women's place in society could only be improved if women were allowed to vote. She was not the only advocate to link the temperance movement to
women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
. The temperance movement required women to engage with local, state, and national political processes, and some temperance advocates, including the well-known Frances Willard, also advocated for women's suffrage, believing "that as nurturers of children and as moral guardians of the home, women should be more involved in public policy and politics." At the time, however, a majority of men and women opposed the idea of women participating in the political process. In September 1911, Dudley, Daviess, Clark, and several other women met in the back parlor of the Tulane Hotel and founded the Nashville Equal Suffrage League, an organization dedicated to building local support for women's suffrage while "quietly and earnestly avoiding militant methods". Dudley was selected as the organization's first president. During her presidency, the league organized giant
May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...
suffrage parades, usually led by Dudley and her children. Dudley also helped bring the National Suffrage Convention to Nashville in 1914. At the time, it was one of the largest conventions ever held in the city. After serving as president of the local league for four years, Dudley was elected to head the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association in 1915. During this time she helped to introduce and lobby for a suffrage amendment to the state constitution. Although the amendment was defeated, a later measure to give women the right to vote in presidential and municipal elections was eventually passed by the state legislature in 1919. In 1917, Dudley became Vice President of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woma ...
, where she contributed to advancing legislation on the issue of women's suffrage. In 1920, Dudley, along with Catherine Talty Kenny and Abby Crawford Milton, led the campaign in Tennessee to approve ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. On August 18, Tennessee became the 36th and deciding state to ratify the amendment, thereby giving women the right to vote throughout the country.


Later life

Following the success of the suffrage campaign, Dudley became the first woman associate chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Committee. She was also selected as the first female delegate-at-large to the
Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...
in 1920. Dudley's involvement in politics declined significantly in subsequent years, with her efforts being focused on civic and charitable causes during the remainder of her life. She was an active worker for the
American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and later served as board chairman of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities. Dudley died unexpectedly on September 13, 1955, of a coronary occlusion at her home in
Belle Meade, Tennessee Belle Meade is a city in Davidson County, Tennessee. Its total land area is , and its population was 2,901 at the time of the 2020 census. Belle Meade operates independently as a city, complete with its own regulations, a city hall, and police ...
. She was 78 years old. She is buried with her family at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.


Legacy

Dudley's legacy has been honored in numerous ways. She is one of three women featured in the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial in
Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
, along with Lizzie Crozier French of Knoxville and Elizabeth Avery Meriwether of Memphis. She is featured along with ten other prominent Tennesseans in ''The Pride of Tennessee'', the official Tennessee State Bicentennial Portrait which hangs in the
Tennessee State Capitol The Tennessee State Capitol, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Tennessee. It serves as the home of both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly–the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tenn ...
. There is also a historical marker, placed by the Tennessee Historical Commission, in Nashville's Centennial Park dedicated to her. Dudley was inducted into the
National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution founded to honor and recognize women. It was incorporated in 1969 in Seneca Falls, New York, and first inducted honorees in 1973. As of 2024, the Hall has honored 312 inducte ...
in 1995. An apartment building completed in 2015 on Elliston Place in Nashville is named "The Dallas" in honor of her. On August 26, 2016, as part of
Women's Equality Day file:Women’s Equality Day (30004393205).jpg, Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo, Barbara Lee and Jackie Speier on the 96th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, when women won the right to vote. Women's Equality Day is celebrated in th ...
, a monument by Alan LeQuire was unveiled in Centennial Park in Nashville, featuring depictions of Dudley,
Carrie Chapman Catt Carrie Chapman Catt (born Carrie Clinton Lane; January 9, 1859#Fowler, Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women t ...
, Abby Crawford Milton, Juno Frankie Pierce, and Sue Shelton White. In 2017, Capitol Boulevard in downtown Nashville was renamed Anne Dallas Dudley Boulevard.


See also

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List of suffragists and suffragettes This list of suffragists and suffragettes includes noted individuals active in the worldwide women's suffrage movement who have campaigned or strongly advocated for women's suffrage, the organisations which they formed or joined, and the publi ...


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley, Anne Dallas 1876 births 1955 deaths Suffragists from Tennessee Activists from Nashville, Tennessee Temperance activists from Tennessee Tennessee Democrats Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville) American feminists