Margaret Elizabeth Crozier French (May 7, 1851 – May 14, 1926) was an American educator, women's suffragist and social reform activist. She was one of the primary leaders in the push for women's rights in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in the early 1900s, and helped the state become the 36th state to certify the

19th Amendment to the United States Constitution 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

, giving women the right to vote, in 1920. She also founded the Ossoli Circle, the oldest federated women's club in the South, and led efforts to bring coeducation to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

.East Tennessee Historical Society, Lucile Deaderick (ed.), ''Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), p. 342.

Biography

Early life

Lizzie Crozier was born in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

, in 1851, one of the five daughters of John H. Crozier and Mary Williams Crozier. Her father was a politician who had served in the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

from 1837 to 1839, representing Knox County, and who had represented

Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District The 3rd congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in East Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Chuck Fleischmann since January 2011. Current boundaries The district comprises two halves, joined together through ...

in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1845 to 1849.Jayne Crumpler DeFiore
Lizzie Crozier French
''

Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture ''Tennessee Encyclopedia'' is a reference book on the U.S. state of Tennessee that was published in book form in 1998 and has also been available online since 2002. Contents include history, geography, culture, and biography. The original print ed ...

'' Young Lizzie Crozier grew up in a home full of books and was educated at the

Convent of the Visitation Visitation School, also known as Visitation or Vis, is an independent, all-girls, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory, school in Minnesota. It is located in Mendota Heights near Saint Paul. Visitation is a coeducational school for grades Montess ...

in Georgetown and later at a private Episcopal school for young women in

Columbia, Tennessee Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. The population was 41,690 as of the 2020 United States census. Columbia is included in the Nashville metropolitan area. The self-proclaimed "mule capital of the world," Colum ...

.Ossoli Circle History
Ossoli Circle website, accessed April 10, 2010
, Tennessee History Classroom Since John H. Crozier supported the Confederacy, the Crozier family was forced to move several times during the Civil War to evade encroaching Union forces, but returned to Knoxville in 1867.With 71 Candles On Birthday Cake Mrs. L. Crozier French Reminiscences On the Past
''Knoxville Sentinel'', 28 May 1922. Newspaper clipping on file at the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection. Retrieved: 4 August 2010. Around 1870, Lizzie Crozier starred alongside future author

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...

in a performance of ''

She Stoops to Conquer ''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays from the 18th ...

''. In 1872, she married William Baxter French, the

cashier A retail cashier or simply a cashier is a person who handles the cash register at various locations such as the point of sale in a retail store. The most common use of the title is in the retail industry, but this job title is also used in the ...

of the wholesaling giant, Cowan, McClung and Company. Her husband died just 18 months after the marriage, and she was never to marry again. The couple had one child, a son named William Williams French.

Early work in education

Fond of learning, French travelled widely to attend seminars and classes across the country. In October 1885, with the aid of her sisters, she reopened the

East Tennessee Female Institute The East Tennessee Female Institute was an all-female institution of higher learning that operated in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, from 1827 until 1911. Originally chartered as the Knoxville Female Academy, the school offered high school ...

, which her grandfather had helped establish in the 1820s, but had been closed since the Civil War. She emphasized public speaking, and published ''A Manual of Elocution'' for her students in 1887. She served as the school's principal until 1890, when their lease on the building expired, and she decided to focus on political activism. In November 1885, French initiated the founding of the Ossoli Circle, which was the first

women's club The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a par ...

in Tennessee and was to become the first club in the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

to join the

General Federation of Women's Clubs The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of over 3,000 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Many of its activities ...

. She was inspired to form the Ossoli Circle after having visited the Sorosis Women's Club in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The Ossoli Circle is named for the early 19th-century transcendentalist and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

Margaret Fuller Ossoli.

Early activism

French's travels to northern states exposed her to progressive feminist philosophies, and left her appalled at the state of women's rights in Tennessee, especially in regards to lack of educational opportunities. One of her first initiatives was to convince the state to allow women to attend the University of Tennessee. In 1889, she delivered an "aggressive" speech before the State Teachers' Association in support of a measure calling for coeducation at the university. In spite of the efforts of state superintendent Frank M. Smith, who derided the idea of women attending UT as "simply absurd,"East Tennessee Historical Society, Mary Rothrock (ed.), ''The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1972), pp. 310, 419-420. the measure passed, and UT began admitting women in 1892. In 1890, French founded the Woman's Educational and Industrial Union to promote various social reforms in Knoxville. Shortly after its formation, the group convinced the city to appoint a police matron to oversee female inmates, and ensure they remained separated from male inmates. Knoxville was the first city in the South to appoint such an office. In October 1893, the group established the Mount Rest Home to care for elderly destitute women, and later gained funding for a reformatory and an industrial school.

Women's rights

In the early 1900s, the women's magazine, ''

The Delineator ''The Delineator'' was an American women's magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company in 1869 under the name ''The Metropolitan Monthly.'' Its name was changed in 1875. The magazine was publis ...

'', conducted a survey and analysis of states' laws regarding the rights of women, and ranked Tennessee in a tie with

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

for last place.Proceedings of the Annual Session of the Bar Association of Tennessee
11 July 1912. French described the position of married women in the state as "nothing more or less than that of a slave," pointing out that they had no right to their own property or earnings. In a 1912 speech to the Tennessee Bar Association, she blasted the state's legal bias toward men. She urged them to "not simply alter one law concerning women here and there, but to take the whole bunch and burn it up." In 1914, Knoxville's city commission enacted an ordinance that essentially allowed prostitutes in parts of the city to operate without fear of arrest. French assailed the commission over this ordinance, and engaged in a back-and-forth with Mayor Samuel G. Heiskell over the city's refusal to arrest men who hire prostitutes. During this period, French began publishing a magazine, ''The People'', the purpose of which was to expose the corrupt "ring leaders" running the city. She pointed out that the journal was not a guide for "society ladies," stating, "you will not learn from these columns how to butter your bread or hold your fork."

Women's suffrage

French's suffragist activities began as early as the 1880s, when she spoke to passers-by at Knoxville's

Annie Riley Hale Annie Riley Hale (May 1, 1859 – December 26, 1944) was an American teacher, author, and social critic. In her lifetime she was known for her criticism of Theodore Roosevelt and her anti-suffrage and anti-vaccine activity. Family Annie Ril ...

at the

National Conservation Exposition The National Conservation Exposition was an exposition held in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, between September 1, 1913 and November 1, 1913. The exposition celebrated the cause of bringing national attention to conservation activities, espe ...

at Knoxville's

Chilhowee Park Chilhowee Park is a public park, fairgrounds and exhibition venue in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, located off Magnolia Avenue in East Knoxville. Developed in the late 19th century, the park is home to the Tennessee Valley Fair and hosts se ...

. After Congress sent the 19th Amendment to the states for ratification in the spring of 1919, French spent much of her time in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

lobbying state legislators. By the time the legislature convened in August 1920 to consider the amendment, thirty-five states had ratified the amendment, leaving it one state short. French and her colleagues set up headquarters in the

Maxwell House Hotel The Maxwell House Hotel was a major hotel in downtown Nashville. Because of its stature, seven US Presidents and other prominent guests stayed there over the years. It was built by Colonel John Overton Jr. and named for his wife, Harriet (Maxwell) ...

in Nashville, and after a marathon lobbying session, the state house certified the amendment on August 19, 1920, and the amendment thus became law.

Later life

Lizzie-crozier-french-grave-old-gray-tn1

In 1923 she became the first woman to seek election to the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in Knoxville.Lizzie Crozier French (1851-1926)
, in Lucille Rogers, ''Light from Many Candles: A History of Pioneer Women in Education in Tennessee''. Published by Xi State,

Delta Kappa Gamma Delta Kappa Gamma () is a professional society for women educators. History The society was founded on May 11, 1929, at the Faculty Women’s Club at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas. The idea was conceived by Annie Webb Blanton, member of ...

. McQuiddy Printing Company, Nashville, 1960. Transcribed and reproduced on Knox County GenWeb website. Retrieved April 10, 2010. She campaigned as a progressive and an advocate for the "weak and unfortunate," and vowed to judge any proposed measure solely on its "righteousness." Her candidacy was unsuccessful. Lizzie Crozier French died May 14, 1926, in

Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, after a brief illness. She was in the Washington area to attend a conference of the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NW ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and to

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians :* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States * Lobby (food), a thick stew ...

the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

in favor of a support of a bill intended to benefit working women. She is buried in Knoxville's

Old Gray Cemetery Old Gray Cemetery is the second-oldest cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1850, the cemetery contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most influential citizens, ranging from politicians and soldiers, to artists an ...

Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial

Lizzie Crozier French is depicted in a life-size

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

on the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial in

Market Square The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a Town square, square meant for trading, in which a market is held. It is an important feature of many towns and cities around the world.Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

, along with Anne Dallas Dudley of

and Elizabeth Avery Meriwether of

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

. The sculpture is by

Alan LeQuire Alan LeQuire (born 1955) is an American sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee. Many of his sculptures are installed in the city. Early life Alan LeQuire was born in 1955. His father, Virgil, was a physician and researcher on the faculty of Vanderbi ...

.Tennessee Woman's Suffrage Memorial
website, accessed April 6, 2010

Historic marker

There is a

historic marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

honoring Lizzie Crozier French. She was honored with the marker in August 2021.

Bust

A bust of Lizzie Crozier French has been placed in the East Tennessee History Museum.

References

External links

Lizzie Crozier French Scrapbook
— on file at the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection
Woman Suffrage Movement
''

''
Tennessee Federation of Women's Clubs
''

''
The Necessity, Beneficence and Beauty of Law
Speech delivered by Lizzie Crozier French to the Ossoli Circle in 1914 {{DEFAULTSORT:French, Lizzie Crozier 1851 births 1926 deaths People from Knoxville, Tennessee American suffragists American women's rights activists Clubwomen