News out of Memphis!
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — As the national woman suffrage centennial celebration continues, there’s a new book from author Bill Haltom about the unsung hero of Tennessee’s final ratification, Rep. Joseph Hanover of Memphis.
The book, Why Can’t Mother Vote: Joseph Hanover and the Unfinished Business of Democracy, tells the story of a Jewish immigrant from Poland who believed so strongly that women should vote that he ran for the Tennessee General Assembly to support woman suffrage. He revered this country’s founding documents and always questioned why his mother couldn’t vote. He strongly supported the partial suffrage bill that passed in Tennessee in April 1919 granting women the right to vote in municipal and presidential elections only. Later, he became the House floor leader during the raucous special session of August 1920 when Tennessee was the last state that could possibly ratify the 19th Amendment.