Commemorative Unfurling of 36-Star Ratification Flag

In honor of the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the Tennessee State Museum will unfurl a banner replica of the 36-star ratification flag of the National Woman’s Party (NWP) off the veranda on the south side of the building, facing the State Capitol and Bicentennial Mall. Members of the NWP hand-sewed the original gold, white, and purple flag adding a star for each state that ratified the Amendment. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify and members of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association and the National Woman’s Party both worked toward the success of ratification.

The final star was sewn on August 18, 1920, when word was received by telegram that Tennessee had ratified the amendment, and soon the flag was unfurled from the balcony of the NWP headquarters in Washington, DC.

The Museum’s symbolic unfurling of the banner replica is open to the public and will also be livestreamed on the Museum’s Facebook channel. The banner will remain hanging through at least August 26, the date the 19th Amendment was officially signed into law.

For more about the flag, please visit the Museum’s Stories blog for a post by executive director, Ashley Howell, at https://tnmuseum.org/Stories/posts/36-stars-millions-of-stories.

Source: Tennessee State Museum