. >> reporter: the next morning as crowds gather at the state house, 24-year-old harry t burn intendshe receives a letter from his mother that morning. she said it doesn't say that you're supporting ratification in the newspapers. be a good boy and support, mrs. cat and get ratification through. >> reporter: be a good boy. >> be a good boy and he votes aye and pandemonium ensues. >> i always favored votes for women. >> reporter: in 1963 he told cbs's walter cronkite about that day. >> when i was confronted with the fact that i was going to go on record for time in eternity on the merits of the question, i voted in favor of ratification. >> on august 26th, 1920, the susan b. anthony amendment becomes the law of the land. an 80-year-old struggle is won. >> reporter: as kerry chapman camp put it, young suffragists who helped forge the last links of that chain were not born when it began. old suffragists who formed the first links were dead when it ended. but for black rim, the fight was far from over. >> black women anticipate that even after the 19th amendment is ratified that they will

and harry t burns, the descendent, they are still in that area, in mcmahon county and iota tennessee and tyler boyd, the great-great-grandson of harry t byrne, has written a book and is quite a story and. -- quite a historian. but what we learn from this mother-son relationship, is that they were very close. they were committed to one another. and she being a suffragist was quite concerned her son was going to be an anti-as they were called. and he was wearing a red rose. so she pins a letter and gets it off to nashville. and says, as we mothers will do now. be a good boy. and her instruction to him was to be a good boy. to support ms. catt, and help her put the 'rat' in an -- in ratification. harry t. byrd, takes off the red rose and puts on a yellow rose and changes his vote. and suffrage passes by one vote. anna: that is how tennessee became the 36th and final state needed to ratify. sen. blackburn: that is right. it was because of this. see, everything boiled down to tennessee. this is where the battle was taking place. what we have to do is realize how unusual it was for women t

. >> a letter that was written by phoebe burns to her son, harry t burns, a brand-new legislator in 1920. he was 24 years old and had just been elected to the legislature. the push to ratify the suffrage amendment was coming to a close. suffrage leaders had eight states to choose from, and they thought tennessee was the best bet, and they had a lot of supporters and a lot of people who were extremely hostile. it is not dated but it has a postmark of august 17, 1920. the vote was august 20, just a short time later. the state senate had approved the ratification, it was like 25 to four. the governor was for atification. a couple of people changing positions could really tip the balance. harry was 24, he was studying law, he was just getting his start in life. his mother was a widow. e had a mother, brother, and ister back in tennessee. that's where their home was. he was a newbie in the state legislature and had to deal with this complicated question. he was reading law with a man who was coming out as extremely anti-suffrage and he was unwilling to take a stand. they thought he was maybe

the letter that was written by the mother of harry t. burn. who was he? >> yes. burn was a legislator in the tennessee state house. he was actually the youngest legislator in the tennessee statehouse. he represented east tennessee. his district was not particularly supportive of the 19th amendment. and the governor had called a special session for tennessee to consider the 19th amendment. so harry burn returned to nashville for that session. truth be told, on august 18th, 1920, the vote counters, suffragists, who were vote counters, really good vote counters, did not believe they had the votes to pass the amendment in the tennessee statehouse. they were shocked, when harry burn, who have been voting against them for all the other procedural votes, changed his vote unexplainably at that point in time, to an aye vote, which is really what pushed it over the top. what they didn't know is that he had received a letter from his mother that morning, delivered to him on the tennessee statehouse floor, that asked harry to vote for women's suffrage and to be a good boy and

. >> brennan: the next morning, as crowds gather at the state house, 24-year-old harry t. burnceives a letter from hi mother. she says, "i noticed in the newspapers it doesn't say you're supporting ratification. be a good boy and support mrs. catt and get ratification through." and he votes. >> i always favored votes for women. >> reporter: in 1963, burn told cbs's walter cronkite about that day. >> when i knew i was going to go on record in time and eternity, i voted for ratification. >> the susan b. anthony amendment becomes the law of the landlduggle was won. >> brennan: young suffrages who helped force the last links of that chain were not born when it began. old suffrages who forced the first links were dead when it ended. but for black women, the fight was far from over. >> black women anticipated that even after the 19th amendment was ratified, they will face poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation and vials. >> brennan: martha s. jones has written about it in the continuing fight for equality. >> black suffrages are the universal suffrages. from the beginning of th

harry t. burn, who wants to tell us that story? the great story? >> we volunteered her. >> go ahead. >> harry was a young legislator in the tennessee senate. the setup for this of course is that to get an amendment, the constitutional amendment through congress took the vote of two thirds of the house at two thirds of the senate. >> to ratify? >> no, to get it through congress. that was the commerce role and that happened in 1919. to get it ratified by the states took three fourths. suffrage leaders spent about a year and a half going from legislator to legislator trying to get ratification right. at first it was going along swimmingly, a drumroll of approval. some five -- i think three states rushed to be the first to ratify and announce standing in the streets together because nobody made it. >> i remember the er a. >> they parade through the states and by then there's a ground swell of what we call the anti's. the anti suffrage forces also see this as the big battle of their lifetime. they marshals for it. what not more powerful of course than th

. >> so fast forwarding to ratification in the state of tennessee, harry t. burn, who wants to tell us that story, the great story. >> we volunteered her. >> go ahead. >> harry was a young legislature in the tennessee senate. the setup for this is, of course, to get an amendment, a constitutional amendment through congress took the vote of two-thirds of the house and two-thirds of the senate. >> to ratify. >> no, to get it through congress. that was the congress role. and that happened in 1919. but to get it ratified by the states took three-fourths. so suffrage leaders spent about a year and a half going from legislature to legislature trying to get ratification. and at first it was going along swimmingly, you know. a drum roll of approval. some five -- i think three states rushed to be the first to ratify and they now stand in history together because nobody made it in ahead of the others. >> same thick thing happened with the e.r.a. >> and they parade through the states. and by then there is a groundswell of what we call the antis. the suffrage forces see this

harry burn, who had had a letter from his mother. she wrote, "vote for suffrage," rget tong him, "don't forget to be a good boy" harry burn was pla be a good boy" toms planning to vote no, but with that letter from his mom in his pocket, he voted yes and changed history. it's often said women were given the right to vote, but it was something they spent more than 70 years fighting for. ♪ ♪ >> o'donnell: the suffrage the antislavery movement. the antislavery movement. several several of the leaders were abolitionists, but it would be another five decades before black women were granted the right to vote. ♪ ♪ suffrage leader susan b. anthony once said, "there is so much yet to be done, but i must leave it for the younger generation." we've come a long way, but there is still more to do. how precious the right to vote is. we'll be right back. because when caught early, it's more treatable. tod ofonrs even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. that's a step in the right directio

t. burn. guest: harry byrne was a in theator tennessee state house that represented east tennessee. his district was not particularly supportive of the 19th amendment, and the governor session toa special consider the 19th amendment, so urn returned to nashville for that session. the vote counters, who were really good vote counters, really believe he did not have the votes to pass the 19th amendment in the tennessee state house. against them for all of the other procedural votes -- they were shocked when harry burn, who had been voting against them and all other procedural votes, voted an vote, which really push them over the top to they did not know is he received a letter from his mother, delivered to him on the tennessee state house goes, that asked harry to vote for women's suffrage and to be a good boy and listen to misses catt, who was the leader of the suffragist movement therein nashville. harry burn decided to listen to his mother. he was, himself, supportive of women's suffrage, but was born, because once again, his not.ituents were he decided, as he said later on, that h

t. burn. guest: harry byrne was a in theator tennessee state house that represented east tennessee.trict was not particularly supportive of the 19th amendment, and the governor session toa special consider the 19th amendment, so urn returned to nashville for that session. the vote counters, who were really good vote counters, really believe he did not have the votes to pass the 19th amendment in the tennessee state house. against them for all of the other procedural votes -- they were shocked when harry burn, who had been voting against them and all other procedural votes, voted an vote, which really push them over the top to they did not know is he received a letter from his mother, delivered to him on the tennessee state house goes, that asked harry to vote for women's suffrage and to be a good boy and listen to misses catt, who was the leader of the suffragist movement therein nashville. harry burn decided to listen to his mother. he was, himself, supportive of women's suffrage, but was born, because once again, his not.ituents were he decided, as he said later on, that he would

t effective with their pr. you had the war of the roses. the pros wore yellow roses and the antis wore red. that's why everyone was surprised when harry burns entered the chamber with a red rose. but the antis tried everything. they threatened primary challenges and business boycotts and said they would kidnap members of the legislature to keep them from voting. so cat actually using tennessee women as her surrogates, had people patrolling the railroad stations so that nobody could get whisked out of town and miss their vote. i don't under cut. there's no other state to pass in that during that legislative session. >> the other thing is the antisuffragists, there were a lot of different groups who are for different reasons. there were the organized led by women antisuffrage. the official antisuffrages, but then anyone who employed child labor. the catholic church. bob bobby. you know, there were plenty of other antisuffrage groups that didn't necessarily share an agenda with the women who were leading the officially suffrage groups. so it wasn't that. >> hi, my name is david. my question, i have two. the first is you talk about the history