Remembering Memphis Rep. Joseph Hanover and his role in Tennessee’s women’s suffrage

The House concurred with the Senate which had voted 25-4 on August 13 to ratify. 

The 72-year-long struggle culminated with victory in Tennessee — the movement to enact women’s suffrage needed 36 of the 48 states to ratify, and other states had opted not to vote — thanks to the unceasing efforts of suffragists across the state, a united Shelby County legislative delegation and the leadership of Rep. Joseph Hanover, a Memphis independent. 

Gov. A.H. Roberts signed the ratification papers on August 24 despite enormous opposition and sent them to the U.S. Secretary of State , who signed the final ratification papers on August 26, now known as Women’s Equality Day. 

Prior to 1998, there was nothing inside the Tennessee Capitol that depicted Tennessee’s pivotal role. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, then a state senator, sought to rectify that. He understood the importance of public art and worked with the Tennessee Arts Commission to hold a competition, which artist Alan LeQuire of Nashville won.  LeQuire’s bas relief sculpture was subsequently installed between the House and Senate chambers. 

It is the only recognition in the Capitol that celebrates our state’s greatest gift to this country and democracy: the enfranchisement of nearly 27 million American women.

On the morning of August 18, Hanover knew he was two votes short of ratification and he didn’t know whose votes he would get to fill the gap. 

Hanover was the real hero because he kept the pro-suffrage votes together despite the fierce opposition of such powerful forces as House Speaker Seth Walker,the L&N Railroad and even Jack Daniel’s Distillery.

Hanover told his personal story, that of a 5-year-old boy escaping tyranny in Poland and finding a new home in America. He told his fellow legislators, “We all crossed the seas to get here … Let’s make Democracy real by securing the vote for every American.”

Walker tried to kill it with a motion to table. But Hanover, along with a surprise vote from Rep. Banks Turner, a Yorkville Democrat,  defeated the motion not once, but twice. Rep. Harry Burn, a Niota Republican voted twice to table.

Hanover’s finesse in keeping the pro-suffrage votes together, followed by the surprise votes in favor by Turner and Burn made votes for women a reality. 

Memphis attorney and author Bill Haltom has written a superb book about Hanover’s life and his importance to the suffrage cause titled “Why Can’t Mother Vote? Joseph Hanover and the Unfinished Business of Democracy.” 

After the bas relief sculpture unveiling in 1998,  the Knoxville Suffrage Commission commissioned LeQuire to create the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial in Knoxville which was unveiled in 2006. 

That was followed by a six-year effort for the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument in Nashville’s Centennial Park which was unveiled in August 2016, followed by work on the Memphis Suffrage Monument “Equality Trailblazers.” LeQuire designed and created the Memphis monument which was dedicated in March 2022, at the Cecil D. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis, facing the Mississippi River.

I was determined that Hanover, who was not recognized anywhere in Memphis, would be on that suffrage monument. As chair of the National Votes for Women Trail Committee, NVWT, I worked hard to get a marker for Hanover at 2519 Broad Avenue, the former family home and dry goods store. It is the only NVWT marker in Memphis. 

You can learn more about Tennessee’s role on the podcast, “Her March to Democracy … Stories Along the National Votes for Women Trail – Tennessee episode.”

Michelle Duster, Ida B. Wells’ great-granddaughter, said when she speaks around the country about her great-grandmother, she mentions what Tennesseans have created with our suffrage monuments and markers. 

When we’re all gone, those monuments and markers will continue to tell the story of these extraordinary people who believed in democracy and the rule of law.

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