I have a deep and enduring love for history, especially social history, especially especially the stories of people that haven’t been centered historically. Researching and learning about the past sparks my imagination and suddenly I’m a soldier in a faraway land, a terrified immigrant trudging through Ellis Island, or a passionate civil rights marcher angered by the futility of breaking down systemic inequities. I am enveloped and bewitched. 

 

Several years ago, after a presidential election that broke my proud patriotic heart, I was researching and writing a story about a girl who goes back in time 100 years before American women* had voting rights. I came across a History.com article entitled, “The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment.” My heart leapt. I remember the feeling of rightness, thinking “This is it.” A true story, not centering the man who made history, but the woman who ensured he got there while making a story of her own. 

 

Next thing I knew, I was researching days of the week in August, 1920 (8/18/1920 was a Wednesday), late summer weather, and evening insect noises in East Tennessee (YouTube Katydids if you’re not from an area they exist), and street name changes in Nashville in the 20th century (they were better before the avenues were numbered). In other words, I was bewitched. I lived there, in my mind, while I completed my initial research; a process that took about three months. I wrote the majority of the first draft in November, 2017. I completed the first draft of the manuscript shortly thereafter and I’ve been revising, researching, polishing, and (on a very limited basis) sending the pitch to agents ever since. 

 

I’ll note that the day I started my research, the New York Times quote of the day was, “The past is only the present become invisible and mute; its memoried glances and its murmurs are infinitely precious." – Mary Webb

So, how’s that for a sign? I’ll take it. 

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The Real Story

Sara Burn, our Katydid, was a real person. She was Harry’s younger sister who sadly died of a spinal infection in 1914 at the age of eleven. But, what if she’d lived? What if, in 1920, seventeen year old Sara accompanied Harry to Nashville during this crucial time? What would she have thought, cared about, and how would she have influenced her brother Harry to make one of the most important decisions in American history? My answer: She would have changed the world. 

 

Justice and Context 

The story of Febb Burn and her famous son is a story that needs to be celebrated, and yet, like any “angle” of history, it’s woefully incomplete. 

 

There are so many ways to come at the events in Tennessee in August, 1920. There are already a few great nonfiction books--even a musical!--about this moment in history (see the Learn More page). A writer of color could delve deeper into Frankie Pierce’s essential contributions to the movement; a women’s fiction writer could create an amazing biography about Miss Febb. I’d love to read those stories and more. And KATYDID is my offering. It’s a sliver, a small port window of the ship that steers us (hopefully) toward more just harbors. As a young, often poor girl, I didn’t feel centered in historical stories, but I recognize that I was more represented than girls of color in the same situation. I hope this version of representation has some impact. 

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*American history is problematic. KATYDID highlights the heroic work of many majority and minority groups who fought for suffrage, and, I hope, makes the point that while the passage of the 19th Amendment is arguably one of the greatest victories in American socio-political history, in this story’s timeline, the systemic injustices that existed before the Amendment’s passage continued long after white women won the vote. 

 

In all areas of social justice and equity, the work continues. The Burn’s story and the events in Nashville in 1920 are as relevant now as they were more than a century before our time. I know I can always do better to be an activist and an ally to ensure equal rights for all Americans. I hope KATYDID inspires you to do the same.