ELIZA SHAUT WHITE
- Program
- Subject
- Location
- Lat/Long
- Grant Recipient
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National Votes for Women Trail
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House, People
- 611 East Holston Avenue, Johnson City, TN 37601, USA
- 36.3294934, -82.351928
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National Collaborative for Women's History Sites
ELIZA SHAUT WHITE
Inscription
ELIZA SHAUT WHITE1883-1965. CIVIC LEADER AND
SUFFRAGIST. STATE CHAIR,
CONGRESSIONAL UNION FOR WOMAN
SUFFRAGE AND NATIONAL WOMAN’S
PARTY 1916-1920. LIVED HERE.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2022
Johnson City suffragist, Eliza Shaut (Mrs. Hugh L.) White (1883-1965) was a civic leader and Tennessee state chair of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and the National Woman’s Party during the final push for women’s suffrage in the United States. The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was the predecessor to the National Woman’s Party, and was established to work toward the immediate passage of a federal constitutional amendment that would secure women’s right to vote.
The April 7, 1916 edition of the Chattanooga News reported on the formation of the of the Tennessee branch of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, with Eliza Shaut White as state chair of the organization. The Chattanooga News stated that, “Tennessee was the first southern state to pledge support to the Congressional Union’s policy to secure nationwide suffrage by constitutional amendment.”
After decades of suffrage activism, Congress finally passed the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in June 1919. The Nineteenth Amendment states that the right to vote cannot be denied on account of sex. Once passed by Congress, the amendment moved on to the states for ratification. For it to become valid, three-fourths of states needed to ratify the amendment, which then totaled 36 states.
By March 1920, 35 states had ratified the amendment. Eliza Shaut White continued to advocate for women’s suffrage, participating in the push for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment by the Tennessee state legislature, traveling to Nashville to aid in ratification efforts at the state capitol. Thanks to the tireless efforts of suffragists like Eliza Shaut White, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee made history when it became the 36th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, finally securing women’s right to vote across the country.
