The public is invited to a virtual tea party to celebrate the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. 

Nancy James

Dr. Lucy Langworthy

The Rutherford Arts Alliance, in partnership with the MTSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women and the American Association of University Women’s Murfreesboro chapter, will host the tea party and book club event at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, via videoconference.

Attendees will discuss “The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote” by Elaine Weiss. The book is about the final six weeks of the fight for passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, including dramatic events at Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel and a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly.

“Tennessee women changed the course of history by working to make Tennessee the 36th and final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment,” said Dr. Lucy Langworthy, Rutherford Arts Alliance chair and assistant to the dean of the MTSU College of Liberal Arts.

“We are so pleased, throughout this year and next, to be collaborating with several local organizations in honoring that fight.”

Nancy James, AAUW-Murfreesboro president and director of MTSU’s Child Care Lab, added, “It is so energizing to team up with each of these tremendous organizations to continue the voting conversation and to recognize Tennessee’s instrumental role in granting women the right to vote,” said

Attendees may bring their own cup of tea or other favorite beverage and wear a hat or other fashion of the period.

To RSVP, go to the RAA’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rucoartstn. For more information, go to www.rutherfordartsalliance.org.

— Gina Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)