MTSU boosts book about great women in TN history

A new book that tells the stories of outstanding Tennessee women is headed for the state’s public high schools with help from the MTSU Department of History.

Charlotte Crawford and Ruth Johnson Smiley, editors of “Tennessee Women of Vision and Courage,” will discuss the book from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at Linebaugh Public Library, 105 W. Vine St. in Murfreesboro. The event is sponsored
by the American Association of University Women of Murfreesboro.

The book includes 22 contributions from 20 authors, including Dr. Rebecca McIntyre, associate professor of history at MTSU, and Dr. B. Ayne Cantrell, MTSU professor emerita, both of whom will be on hand for the discussion.

Women whose lives are chronicled in the book include pioneering aviator Evelyn Stone Bryan Johnson; state legislator Anna Belle Clement O’Brien; Brenda Runyon, who established the first bank in the nation owned and operated by women; Angie Perkins, the first woman in the South to sit on a school board; and Dr. June Anderson, an MTSU chemistry
professor and activist for women on campus.

Books may be purchased at the event, which is free and open to the public. Proceeds will go toward supplying each public high school in Tennessee with a copy of the book.

In addition to the MTSU Department of History, supporters of the book sales include the American Association of University Women of Tennessee, the Tennessee Economic Council on Women, the Tennessee Women’s Political Caucus, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Women’s Studies Program, the Women’s Economic Council Foundation, the Women’s Equity Foundation and the YWCA of Knoxville.

For more information, go to www.tnwomenproject.com or send an email to tnwomenproject@gmail.com.