Sue Shelton White Public Art
Donation protected
Sue Shelton White 1887-1943
Public art created by Jackson, TN, sculptor Wanda Stanfill will honor this suffragist, attorney, and general counsel who implemented the Social Security Act. "Miss Sue" also served as President of the Jackson Area Business and Professional Women, 1929-1931. The art will be installed in Jackson, TN.
White, who was one of three children, born to teachers James Shelton White and Mary Calista (Swain) White, lived in Henderson and Jackson, TN, and Washington, D.C.
Education: 2-year college, George Robertson Christian College, now Freed-Hardeman University; graduated from West Tennessee Business College in Dyer County, 1905. Washington College of Law, LL.B., 1923.
Among her many contributions to West Tennessee:
In 1905, White took a job as a stenographer and clerk for the Southern Engine and Boiler Works in Jackson. In 1907, she became Jackson’s court reporter and, later, private secretary to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
From 1920 to 1926, she worked as a clerk and legal secretary for Tennessee Sen. Kenneth McKellar in Washington, D.C. In 1926, she returned to Jackson as the city's first female attorney and to work for her own law firm, Anderson and White. She was also active in the state's Democratic Party. She helped write Tennessee's first married women's property bill, an old age pension act, and a mother's pension act.
The New Deal: In 1928, she befriended Eleanor Roosevelt and Molly Dewson, director of the Women's Division of the Democratic Party. Through 1933, White worked as executive secretary of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee; executive assistant to the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
She became legal counsel helping implement the Social Security Act. Then she served as principal attorney and assistant to the general counsel of the Federal Security Agency before becoming ill with cancer in the early 1940s.
Awards, Community Leadership:
In 1918, she served as chair of the National Woman’s Party in Tennessee and editor of NWP’s national paper, the Suffragist. In 1913, recording secretary, Jackson league of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association (TESA), an affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). 1917, chair of TESA's Eighth Congressional District. Participated in NWP's Washington demonstrations, burning an effigy of President Wilson in front of the White House on Feb. 9, 1919. Arrested and sentenced to five days in prison.
After Congress passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919, White returned to Tennessee and helped make Tennessee the 36th state to vote for ratification, achieving the three-fourths majority necessary to grant women the right to vote in America.
Public art created by Jackson, TN, sculptor Wanda Stanfill will honor this suffragist, attorney, and general counsel who implemented the Social Security Act. "Miss Sue" also served as President of the Jackson Area Business and Professional Women, 1929-1931. The art will be installed in Jackson, TN.
White, who was one of three children, born to teachers James Shelton White and Mary Calista (Swain) White, lived in Henderson and Jackson, TN, and Washington, D.C.
Education: 2-year college, George Robertson Christian College, now Freed-Hardeman University; graduated from West Tennessee Business College in Dyer County, 1905. Washington College of Law, LL.B., 1923.
Among her many contributions to West Tennessee:
In 1905, White took a job as a stenographer and clerk for the Southern Engine and Boiler Works in Jackson. In 1907, she became Jackson’s court reporter and, later, private secretary to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
From 1920 to 1926, she worked as a clerk and legal secretary for Tennessee Sen. Kenneth McKellar in Washington, D.C. In 1926, she returned to Jackson as the city's first female attorney and to work for her own law firm, Anderson and White. She was also active in the state's Democratic Party. She helped write Tennessee's first married women's property bill, an old age pension act, and a mother's pension act.
The New Deal: In 1928, she befriended Eleanor Roosevelt and Molly Dewson, director of the Women's Division of the Democratic Party. Through 1933, White worked as executive secretary of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee; executive assistant to the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
She became legal counsel helping implement the Social Security Act. Then she served as principal attorney and assistant to the general counsel of the Federal Security Agency before becoming ill with cancer in the early 1940s.
Awards, Community Leadership:
In 1918, she served as chair of the National Woman’s Party in Tennessee and editor of NWP’s national paper, the Suffragist. In 1913, recording secretary, Jackson league of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association (TESA), an affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). 1917, chair of TESA's Eighth Congressional District. Participated in NWP's Washington demonstrations, burning an effigy of President Wilson in front of the White House on Feb. 9, 1919. Arrested and sentenced to five days in prison.
After Congress passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919, White returned to Tennessee and helped make Tennessee the 36th state to vote for ratification, achieving the three-fourths majority necessary to grant women the right to vote in America.
Organizer
Paula Casey
Organizer
Memphis, TN
