Prison Librarian in Kentucky

 After having read The Mountains We Call Home, I thought it was odd that the book had been given that title.   Perhaps it was done to link it to the earlier books in the series which were much more tied to mountain life.  It seemed to me that the plot of this novel was centered more on life in prison.  That was where the female central character largely spent her days.

                                                       

The protagonist Cussy was arrested because she was a non-white woman who married a white man.  He too was arrested.  This meant that this pair who loved each other were living in a gender separated prison.

This book also brings to the fore ethical issues in the treatment of prisoners in Kentucky during the early 1950's.  I considered the policy of routinely lobotomizing prisoners particularly heinous.  An article by Esther Annorzie on the subject called A Procedure Gone Wrong  provides an overview on why lobotomy was adopted and the reasons why it has been discontinued.

In "A Note From The Author" at the back of the book, I learned about some library improvements.  One example is that Kim Michele Richardson, the author, got an initiative signed into law in Kentucky to establish 26 libraries in courthouses.  Indiana, California and Ohio are also interested in installing libraries in courthouses.  

Bookmobiles are generally used in isolated areas of the U.S. that don't have libraries.  Kentucky has more bookmobiles than any other state.  Author Richardson tells us this is because Kentucky places a high priority on literacy.  I would suggest that Kentucky also doesn't have very much funding to build libraries.  Kentucky isn't by any means the poorest state.  That is Mississippi which almost certainly doesn't have the funding to provide very many bookmobiles.   On the other hand, the choice of whether to build a library or give the community a bookmobile might be partly based on racism in Mississippi. African American Mississippi author W. Ralph Eubanks gives us his  Bookmobile Memories, but he doesn't ask why there was no library. He was evidently grateful for the bookmobile.  

Actually, I think bookmobiles may be inadequate in some cases.  There could be isolated areas, for which bookmobiles are intended,  that might be better reached with wings. Winged dragons guard treasure, and books are indeed treasures for book deprived readers. A small plane could be painted as if it were a dragon.  So we might have Book Dragons that fly into the more extremely isolated places to transport books. It's a thought.

 

                                                        

                                                      

 

 

 

 

                                             
     

                                                       

                                               

Women's Suffrage in Tennessee

Only one more state was needed for women's suffrage to become law throughout the United States in  the novel City of Betrayal by Victoria Thompson. Tennessee seemed to be that final state even though passing women's suffrage there would be a challenge. Suffragists are among my favorite historical subjects.  I checked this book out from the public library.  It's my first read of May 2026.

                                                       

   

 No one was willing to introduce it in the state legislature at that point, but the junior U.S. Senator of TN wanted their state to be responsible for the ratification of women's suffrage. A TN State Senator said that those in favor of women's suffrage were being accused of allowing "petticoat government", but ironically women weren't wearing petticoats at that point.

 TN suffragists were looking for a replica of the Liberty Bell so they could ring it when the women's suffrage amendment passed.  They found one that was half the size of the original, and the crack was painted on.

Tom Riddick gave the report of the Amendments Committee.  He said that the South needed to stop being backwards. He had the pledges of 64 members of the House to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  If ratification failed in TN, Riddick said he'd be ashamed of being a Tennessean.  One suffragist said that "Taxation without representation should no longer apply to the women of the United States." This implies to me that if women's suffrage failed, women should revolt as men had in 1776 due to taxation without representation.  

President Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram asking the Speaker of the TN House to support women's suffrage.  The people sitting in the gallery shouted their approval. One woman started chanting the President's name. When the vote was held, there was a tie.  When the tie was announced, one member of the House who hadn't voted said he would vote in favor.  He was threatened and accused of having been bribed.  He escaped out of window, and then went in the window of the library.  I was pleased that the library was considered a place of safety.  The librarian was startled.  The Anti-Suffrage legislators tried to reverse pro-suffrage votes and said they would hold indignation meetings in districts where representatives voted in favor of women's suffrage.  Yet national ratification of the suffrage amendment eventually passed.  The Anti-Suffrage supporters kept on trying to nullify women's suffrage until the Supreme Court ruled against nullifying it. Warren G. Harding was the first President elected with women's votes.

The Tennessee legislators who voted in support of women's suffrage were brave men.  I wasn't surprised that there was so much conflict over the issue.  There is still controversy over women's rights in the U.S. and it still takes courage to support them.