Elizabeth Avery Meriwether (January 19, 1824 – November 4, 1916) was an author, publisher and prominent activist in the women's suffrage movement in the United States

History of women's suffrage in the United States

Woman suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels, during the 19th Century and early 20th Century, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided: "The right of citizens of the United States to...

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Early life

She, her brother and three sisters moved to Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

 with parents, Nathan Avery and Rebecca Rivers Avery in 1835 to find a better economic situation.

Adulthood

In 1852, she married Minor Meriwether who became a Confederate Major in Oct. 1861, serving as an Engineer constructing defenses and railroads. During her husband's absence, Elizabeth had to flee with her children from Memphis due to conflict with the Federal forces. She later argued with Union General Hurburt in an effort to regain family property confiscated by the US.

Minor Meriwether never served under Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years...

 during the war, but they knew each other as former Confederate officers and railroadmen. One of the organizational meetings of the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

 took place in her kitchen in the Meriwether's Memphis home, which stood on the site of what is now the Peabody Hotel

Peabody Hotel

The Peabody Hotel is a luxury hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The hotel is well known for the famous "Peabody Ducks" that live on the hotel rooftop, but which make daily treks to the hotel's lobby in a daily "March of Ducks" celebration.- History :...

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Writings

• The Refugee (Short story - 1863)
• The Master of Red Leaf (1872)
• Black and White (1883)
• The Ku Klux Klan, or The Carpetbagger in New Orleans (1877)
• Facts and Falsehoods About the War on the South (1904) (pseudonym: George Edmonds)
• Sowing of the Swords: The Soul of the Sixties (1910)

Legacy

Meriwether is depicted in a life-size bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 statue

Statue

A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...

 in the Women's Suffrage Memorial in Market Square

Market Square, Knoxville

Market Square is a pedestrian mall located in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Established in 1854 as a market place for regional farmers, the square has developed over the decades into a multipurpose venue that accommodates events ranging from concerts to political rallies, and has long provided a...

 in Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

, along with Anne Dallas Dudley

Anne Dallas Dudley

Anne Dallas Dudley was a prominent activist in the women's suffrage movement in the United States...

 of Nashville and Lizzie Crozier French

Lizzie Crozier French

Margaret Elizabeth "Lizzie" Crozier French was an American educator, women's suffragist and social reform activist...

 of Knoxville. The sculpture is by Alan LeQuire

Alan LeQuire

Alan LeQuire is an American sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee. Many of his sculptures are installed in the city.LeQuire's father, Virgil, was a physician and researcher on the faculty of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. His mother, Louise, was a painter, art teacher, and writer. The...

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External links

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tmsirecords/elizabethaverymeriwetherbio.html