In Tennessee in 1919 women were recruiting the votes of other women to vote for the first time. In Nashville, suffragists who had been working for many years for this right, hastily organized women to register and as part of their of the preparation for their first election, struck a rare alliance with African American women leaders. There was a political agreement between the two groups, white women suffragists and African American women leaders. Black women of Tennessee would turn out and vote and, in return, the white women would support a number of specific social services to the African American community. This was a practical, mutually satisfactory, and altogether surprising alliance. This is an example of the effort it takes to break through racial barriers, to even limited, biracial cooperation.

The Nashville alliance suggests that there was an alternative to the bitter race relations of the postwar years. This alternative was due to the development of African American women's organizations, which gained more influence because of the connections black women had with white women of the Methodist Women's Missionary Society. In a time where black men had already lost meaningful p

olitical influence as citizens, voters and members of the Republican Party, black women had taken an activist role, establishing programs in their communities and seeking allies to establish power in government. Black women joined suffrage ranks because they were convinced it was important to vote in order to protect their interests and because the saw suffrage as a part of a strategy for racial progress. White suffragists started this alliance because they believed in suffrage as an important cause and because they, too, had a political agenda.

Nashville was the center of African American middle class since reconstruction, so it was probably a logical place for this alliance. As a result, there were many African American churches and women in these churches insisted on an independent voice within their churches and community. Many African American women's club was also formed in Nashville and the leaders of these societies had an important role in forming the union between the two races. The issues that the African American women dealt with were many of the same issues that white suffragists were concerned about. These women raised funds for better schools, day-care centers for the children of working mothers, settlement housing and many other causes. African American leaders understood the uses of voting potential. African American wo

Some common words found in the essay are:
African American, Republican Party, African Americans, North Whites, Elections Tennessee, african american, Missionary Society, african american women, american women, white suffragists, black women, white women, african americans, suffragists african, votes african american, american women leaders, women leaders, american community, women white, white women suffragists, african american community,
Approximate Word count = 908
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)