Mama's boy

An anniversary, a letter, "the low neck and high skirt variety," and a misconception. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

A hundred years ago this week, the Tennessee legislature ratified the 19th Amendment, making it the 36th state to do so, and enshrining voting rights* for women into the text of the U.S. Constitution.

You’ll notice that asterisk on the idea of voting rights*. I’ll address that below. But first, let’s mark the occasion with a nice story about Febb Burn, who was a 47-year-old widow in Niota, Tennessee at the time of that momentous vote.

Burn was a farmer, a college graduate, and a suffragist through and through. She was also the mother of 24-year-old Harry T. Burn, who happened to be a freshman delegate in the Tennessee House of Representatives at the time.

Niota is about 135 miles from Nashville as the crow flies, but a world away. It’s a three-hour drive now, but in those pre-Interstate days it was a longer trip.

So, when Harry headed west for the summer legislative session, his mother kept in touch via U.S. Mail.

She sent him one letter in July 1920, six handwritten pages, with news abo…