Your Weekly Constitutional

Why Tennessee? Why did the ratification of the 19th Amendment in August, 1920, come down to a Southern state that is not particularly noted for its progressive politics? Perhaps it had something to do with a little-known incident three years earlier, in 1917, when suffragist leader Maud Younger insisted upon her First Amendment right to speak at a courthouse in Knoxville. Tennessee lawyers didn't support her at first, but, inspired by her courage, the Tennessee Bar eventually came around. Knoxville attorney Wanda Sobieski tells us the tale.