Anna Lee Keys Worley Explained

Anna Lee Keys Worley
State Senate1:Tennessee
District1:2nd
Term Start1:February 8, 1921
Term End1:January 1, 1923
Preceded1:J. Parks Worley
Succeeded1:D. A. Barger
Party:Democratic
Birth Name:Anna Lee Keys
Birth Date: 1872
Birth Place:Boswell, Indiana, U.S.
Death Place:Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.

Anna Lee Keys Worley (1872 – May 2, 1961) was the first woman elected to the Tennessee Senate, representing Sullivan and Hawkins counties.[1]

She was born Anna Lee Keys to William T. and Sarah (née Evans) Keys in Boswell, Indiana, in 1872. She married Tennessee state representative J. Parks Worley on November 25, 1907.[2] [3] Parks was elevated to the state senate in 1913 and served until his death on January 6, 1921.

Worley was elected as a Democrat in the January 25, 1921, special election to succeed her husband and was sworn in on February 8.[1]

One historian wrote that Worley "succeeded her antisuffragist husband in the Tennessee state senate and promptly used her powers to sponsor legislation to remove civil disabilities against Tennessee's women".[4]

Worley left the Senate in 1923 after serving one term.[1] She died on May 2, 1961, in Lafayette, Indiana.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Anna Lee Keys Worley . National Women's History Museum . March 24, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150906122215/https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/legislators/Tennessee.html . September 6, 2015 . dead .
  2. Web site: First Woman State Senator in U.S. Dies. May 3, 1961. 3. Journal & Courier. April 12, 2023. Newspapers.com.
  3. Web site: Is First Woman Member of Any Southern Legislature. The Sunday Journal and Tribune. February 13, 1921. 2A. April 12, 2023. Newspapers.com.
  4. Book: Weatherford, Doris . Women in American Politics: History and Milestones . SAGE . 2012 . 119. 9781608710072 .