On Saturday, August 21, 2021, at 2 p.m. a ceremony will be held at historic Old Gray Cemetery, located at 543 N Broadway, to dedicate an interpretive marker honoring Knoxville suffragist Lizzie Crozier French. Sponsoring the ceremony are the four organizations and individuals that placed the marker; Cavett Station Chapter, NSDAR; GFWC Ossoli Circle; the Old Gray Cemetery Association, and local artist Mary Ruden, in partnership with the Suffrage Coalition.
City of Knoxville Vice Mayor Gwen McKenzie will present a proclamation in honor of Women’s Equality Day on August 26, which commemorates the date in 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment was certified.
Wanda Sobieski, president and founder of the Suffrage Coalition, will speak about French’s life. Singer/songwriter Candace Corrigan will perform “Say it Loud,” a song that she wrote about the suffragist.
The marker honors French, Knoxville’s leading suffragist, who worked for women’s suffrage at the local, state, and national levels. French founded the Knoxville Equal Suffrage Association in 1910. She was the first woman to address the Knoxville City Council and was the first woman to seek the office of Knoxville Councilman-at-Large.
The sponsoring organizations thank the City of Knoxville and the Knox County Public Library Foundation for their support of the project through a grant provided by the Suffrage Seed Fund.
The public is invited to attend. Due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in our area, attendees are asked to wear a mask and be prepared to distance themselves. Parking is available at St. John’s Lutheran Church across the street from the cemetery; accessible parking is available inside the cemetery.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a women’s service organization whose members can trace their lineage to an individual who contributed to securing American independence during the Revolutionary War. Today’s DAR is dynamic and diverse, with over 185,000 members in 3,000 chapters in the United States and abroad. DAR members annually provide millions of hours of volunteer service to their local communities across the country and world. DAR chapters participate in projects to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Over one million members have joined the organization since its founding in 1890.
If you are interested in learning more about DAR membership, visit https://www.dar.org/nationalsociety/become-member or contact Holly Matthews at hollymatthewsdar@gmail.com.
