Lucy Graham Crozier, sister of Mrs. Lizzie Crozier French, was a scholar and an able linguist whose chief interest was in helping the needy obtain free legal aid. She was prominent in Democratic politics and, like her sister, was an early champion of woman suffrage in the South.
She was born April 7, 1856, in Knoxville on the present site of the Farragut Hotel. She was the daughter of Mary Ethelred and John Hardy Crozier, a lawyer and a congressman for many years. She had an uncle who was at one time ambassador to Turkey. Because of this type of family background, her interest in politics began early.

After receiving her preparatory education in the Convent of Visitation in Georgetown, District of Columbia, Lucy studied at Smith College, the University of Chicago, and Cornell University. Later, while on a visit to Europe, she continued her studies in Italy and in Berlin, Germany. In 1885 Miss Crozier assisted her sister in establishing Knoxville Female College, where she taught French until 1890. She then moved to New York City to set up a salon in the home of Mrs. Hammond, a granddaughter of the Vanderbilts. Here she lectured for the next twelve years in addition to teaching English, French, and German.

Always interested in the welfare and the rights of women, Miss Crozier joined her sister in advocating woman suffrage. She assisted in the organization of schools and lending libraries. She was instrumental in the passage of the Collins bill, which provided for the purchase of three thousand incunabula for the United States government. Among these rare books, now in the Library of Congress in Washington, is the Gutenberg Bible, the first large book printed from moveable type (printed at Mainz before 1456).

For many years prior to her death on November 26, 1931, Miss Crozier maintained law offices in the Empire Building in Knoxville, where free legal aid was given to the needy. This service was expanded into the Knoxville Legal Aid Association, whose purpose it was to provide legal representation for the poor and the downtrodden -- without cost to them.

Lucy Graham Crozier was a scholar, a talented linguist, an able lecturer, and a good teacher, but she was much more -- she was a great humanitarian whose sympathy went out to the underprivileged, the poor, and the needy. Her heart was "as wide as the sky is wide," and she rendered assistance whenever and wherever she could.

Source: Light from Many Candles: A History of Pioneer Women in Education in Tennessee, by Lucille Rogers. Published by Xi State, Delta Kappa Gamma.McQuiddy Printing Company, Nashville, 1960. Transcribed for this site by Char.