"Dear Son: Hurrah, and vote for suffrage! Don't keep them in doubt. I noticed some of the speeches against. They were bitter. I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet. Don't forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the 'rat' in ratification. Your Mother." Aug. 18, 1920

The Mrs. Catt was a well known suffragist activist who came to Nashville to rally support for the ratification of the 19th amendment.

In 1978 I was at a political party in my hometown. The party was the Naifeh's Coon Supper. It's still going on today and is a huge gathering, but back in its heyday it was something else. I was very close friends with Brenda Naifeh who was Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's wife. They've since divorced. The official supper took place at the Covington Country Club where barbeque, beans, slaw, chicken, raccoon were served to the masses. But before the official supper there was a cocktail party held at Oney Naifeh's home. At this time Jimmy was new to the Tennessee legislature.
In 1978 the party was still a Men Only deal. It's great to look back on that time and realize how far we've come. It was men only mainly because there weren't women in political positions. Women weren't attorneys or judges or law enforcement agents. It was pretty much a man's world. Because I was Brenda's friend she invited me to come and help with the party at Oney's house. In other words, I brought food and helped in the kitchen.
You cannot possibly imagine how crowded it was. There were literally at least a thousand men packed, standing room only in the spacious house and yard. You could hear the crowd roaring the second you arrived and opened your car door. You could smell the testosterone.
I had more fun at these parties. They were on the last Thursday in April, and just in case you didn't know it, the last Thursday in April is the official "Oney Naifeh no rain day." I don't know if it is still that way now that he's dead, but for the 30 or so years of the Coon Supper that he oversaw, it never rained.
I always brought a huge meat tray and homemade rolls. It didn't really matter. I could have served cow manure and those guys would have never known the difference.
Can I tell you again how crowded this place was? Swarming, swarming with men. I loved it. Because I was one of the only females there I stood out. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to talk to men I might now have otherwise talked to. Why? Well, I was there in a hosting capacity. The men were there in political capacities without their wives or families.They were always appropriate and respectful, but accessible.
I had a great time meeting governors, senators, legislators, judges, attorneys, newspaper men, politicians of all stripes, bankers, lobbyists. But the beauty of the Coon Supper was that everyone was invited. Men showed up in wheelchairs, on crutches, they showed up if they had to get up off their deathbed. Poor people came. Mechanics with tatooed arms, grocery store clerks and sackers, factory workers, farmers, they all came to hobnob with the powerful politicians.

The best Coon Supper I ever went to was the year of Jake Butcher. He'd lost the 74' gubernatorial race to Ray Blanton. Ray Blanton. What a sleazy guy. He attended Coon Suppers until he fell from grace. He was probably there that year too. I met Jim Sasser. I think Howard Baker attended once or twice. The year Jake and C.H. Butcher were at the peak of their power they flew in to the Coon Supper. I was appointed to go to the airport and pick up C.H. at the airport and drive him in to the Naifeh's house. That was an experience. The Butcher brothers were flashy, people. They exuded a kind of gambler's glamour wherever they went
.

So, here I was in this crowd of people. The drinks were flowing and the roar of the crowd was full of fun and good spirited conversation. Deals were going down. Jokes were being told. It was a sight to see and behold.

Jimmy Naifeh and I knew each other well enough that he was familiar with the fact that I was a Feminist. I should have been knocked in the head when I was a baby. It would have saved many people a lot of pain. I was a pain. I was always getting into something and going headlong, head over heels with it. I never seemed to take any kind of passion half way. I'd been introduced to feminism by my good friend Debbie Swanner. We lived next door to each other when I was a junior in college. She's the one who held meetings, consciousness raising sessions etc. At any rate, by the time I left college I was a full fledged convert to the feminist cause. It came in handy when I was raising my three daughters, and especially handy with my son!

Jimmy Naifeh came over to me when I was standing in the kitchen at this huge party. He said, "Melinda, there's someone here I want you to meet. His name is Harry Burn."
Well, you know me, I reached out to shake his hand. He remained seated. He had a cane and didn't see well. He, like most of the men there, was in a suit and tie. He was in his 80's.
"Melinda, Harry is responsible for giving women the right to vote. It was his voted that ratified the 19th Amendment."
Well, dumb me. I was so ignorant of the history of the Women's Movement. But I sat down beside this man and we had a nice long talk. He told me the whole story.
The story is that he the youngest Tennessee Legislator when the 19th Amendment was being voted on. The legislature was tied. He wore a red rose which meant he was against. The senate quickly passed the Amendment, but the House was tied. Harry changed his vote when he received this telegram from his mother. Thus, he changed history! Yeah Harry!





I'll never forget meeting him.