Eslick, Willa McCord Blake, 1878-1961

Willa McCord Blake Eslick (September 8, 1878 – February 18, 1961) was an American civic activist and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman to represent Tennessee in the United States Congress, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from August 1932 to March 1933.

Born Willa McCord Blake in Fayetteville, Tennessee, she attended private schools, Dick White College and Milton College in Fayetteville, Winthrop Model School and Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Metropolitan College of Music and Synthetic School of Music in New York City. After college, she became active in Democratic politics, served on the Tennessee Democratic Committee, and became a civic activist. Willa Blake married Edward Everett Eslick, a lawyer from Pulaski, Tennessee, on June 6, 1906. Edward Eslick would go on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 1925 until his death in June 1932.

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