USA TODAY: Women of the Century on Tennessee list

One hundred years ago, as a groundswell of momentum pushed toward women winning the right to vote, a robust and energetic movement overtook Tennessee – and an epic battle for women's rights ensued.

With the swing vote for suffrage on the line, the country turned to the Volunteer State to decide.

When legislators met on Nashville’s Capitol Hill during the sweltering summer of 1920, Tennessee suffragists stood boldly alongside, yellow roses pinned to their dresses.

What had for a long time been a matter of justice and fair play had become a matter of pride. Champions of the cause knew it could be their moment of glory – or their worst defeat.

In the end, their passion and persistence shined through. With a series of momentous votes, Tennessee became the 36th and final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment.

The events of that year advanced the role of women in Tennessee and across the country.

Now, a century later, America is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, giving us the chance to reflect on that moment in history and use it to uplift leaders of yesterday and today.

To mark the occasion, the USA TODAY Network is naming the Women of the Century. This list recognizes 10 women from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, and the contributions each made to her state and to the country.

The women on this list have made significant, unique and lasting differences in our lives in the past 100 years. They have celebrated outstanding achievements in areas such as arts and literature, business, civil rights, education, entertainment, law, media, nonprofits and philanthropy, politics, science and medicine, and sports.

Tennessee’s rich history of uplifting women started early and has only strengthened since. We are excited to celebrate the change-makers among us who represent the best of womankind. But we know that picking only 10 women leaves out so many dynamic figures and powerful accomplishments.

Our Tennessee suffragists, for example, paved the way for so much. Indeed, when women won the right to vote, the entire world changed. But there were so many important leaders among them – Lizzie Crozier French, Anne Dallas Dudley and Sue Shelton White to name a few – we couldn’t possibly select only one or two. The suffragists of Tennessee deserve their own list.

We discussed other historic figures, including female flyers Cornelia Fort and Phoebe Omlie, who was named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the special assistant for air intelligence of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the predecessor of NASA), the first female government official in aviation.

So, too, some of the state’s most notable contemporaries were considered. Dynamic women such as Liane Russell, the geneticist whose research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory led to careful guidelines for administering radiological procedures to women of child-bearing age. And Martha Ingram, a businesswoman and generous philanthropist who in 1995 succeeded her late husband as chairman and chief executive officer of Ingram Industries, one of America's largest privately held companies.

Others we marveled at included the Hon. Aleta Trauger, the first female U.S. district judge for the Middle District of Tennessee, and Miriam DeCosta Willis, an educator and civil rights activist who became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University, and later returned to Memphis to become the first Black faculty member at the university that had once denied her entrance.

Those included in the Tennessee Women of the Century come from various generations and across a spectrum of industries and backgrounds, but all have been champions of the same pioneering spirit displayed by the Tennessee women who fought for what was right. And won...