On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee state legislature was considering becoming the 36th state to ratify the proposed 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote.

If Tennessee ratified the amendment, it would be added to the Constitution. The state senate had approved the provision but the state house of representatives had not. That body was meeting in Nashville in special session to vote on that one issue.

Supporters and opponents of the measure descended upon Tennessee’s capital city, Nashville, to lobby legislators to vote the way they preferred.

For their part, l...