Abstract

Women are often overlooked as political operatives throughout the twentieth century, however a closer analysis of Prohibition, Women’s Suffrage and African Civil Rights proves their effective involvement. Despite evangelical Christian based obstacles, women successful created grass roots campaigns that moved Southern society towards adopting Prohibition. Using organizing and political skills developed during the Prohibition era, women led the charge to the adoption of the nineteenth amendment (Women’s Suffrage) with Tennessee as the deciding vote. With the skills necessary to run a successful movement and pulling on the organizing support of community churches, the African American Civil Right’s Movement combined aspects of Prohibition and Women’s Suffrage to achieve political success. Because these movements are often understood as three distinct political shifts, scholarship focuses on specific aspects of the greater argument that women were instrumental in these movement’s successes despite evangelical involvement. Establishing women and evangelicalism as consequential actors in these movements ties parts of previous scholarship into one central argument. The murder of Edward Carmack in Tennessee provides a catalyst point of where women and evangelicalism collided together in the political sphere. These three great movements of the twentieth century were interconnected in how they achieved success and the participants who made them successful.

Advisor

Kammer, Charles

Second Advisor

Sene, Ibra

Department

History; Religious Studies

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities

Publication Date

2017

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2017 Clare A. Zanger