Suffrage Coalition wants to raise $100K for statue
Febb Burn was a tall woman; she stood 6 feet. Now, memorialized in bronze, she’ll stand even taller in a downtown Knoxville statue that marks a turning point in women’s suffrage.
Burn and her son, Rep. Harry Burn of Niota, are the figures of a statue to be unveiled June 9 at the corner of Clinch Avenue and Market Street.
Harry Burn was a freshman representative in the Tennessee legislature in 1920 when he cast the deciding vote to approve the 19th Amendment. The amendment gave women the right to vote; Tennessee was the 36th and last state needed to make it law.
But without his mother’s urging, Burn might not have voted yes. The state house was deadlocked 48-48 until he switched his previous no vote to a yes. Febb Burn had written her 24-yearson a letter urging him to “do the right thing” and vote for women’s suffrage.
The Burn memorial will be next to the East Tennessee History Center and across Krutch Park from the Women’s Suffrage Memorial placed on Market Square in 2006. That earlier statue shows three Tennessee women — Knoxville’s Lizzie Crozier French, Nashville’s Anne Dallas Dudley and Memphis’ Elizabeth Avery Meriwether — instrumental in women’s suffrage.
Both are projects of the Knoxville-based Suffrage Coalition and were created by Nashville artist Alan LeQuire.
The Burn Memorial will show Febb Burn standing behind and to the side of her son seated in his legislative chair. One of her hands is on one of Harry’s shoulders. Knoxville attorney Wanda Sobieski, coordinator of the Suffrage Coalition, says Mrs. Burn’s hand is cast as more of a “nudge than a pat.”
The statue base will include information about its figures’ place in history. Each figure is cast as life size plus another one-third, Sobieski said. Donations needed The coalition needs to raise the last $100,000 of its project’s $400,000 budget. Some of that money is needed for insurance and maintenance of the statue, Sobieski said.
The coalition is selling $100 engraved bricks to be placed around the memorial. Individuals or organizations giving $1,000 to $5,000 will have their names engraved on the statue base. The suggested donations are $1,000 for individuals; $2,500 for community groups; and $5,000 for businesses. The deadline is May 15. To donate, see suffragecoalition.org/ engage-in-history.
The statue will be unveiled during a June 8-9 celebration that starts with a 6 p.m. June 8 reception at the 601 S. Gay St. history center. Elaine Weiss, author of newly released “The Woman’s Hour,” will sign books at the reception. Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased at suffragecoalition.org.
The statue will be revealed at 5:15 p.m. June 9 after a 4 p.m. historic re-enactment of a suffrage parade and a 4:30 p..m. program on Market Square. The parade will process from Main to Gay Streets, to Union Avenue to State Street, and will culminate on Market Square. Participants are encouraged to wear 1920s era dress or white clothes. More information and registration forms will be available soon on the Suffrage Coalition website.
The coalition also is holding a contest for students in grades 5 through 12 to create a visual presentation about their favorite suffragist. The video or PowerPoint submissions must be received by April 12. The winner’s name will be engraved on a brick at the base of the memorial. More information about the contest is available at suffrage coalition.org/power point-video-contest.
Sobieski said the memorial is important because it marks Harry Burn’s historic move to “do the right thing in the firestorm that was Nashville” over the amendment. And, she said, the statue also commemorates “the story of how one more letter, how one more person can express an opinion and how one more vote can turn the tide. That’s exactly what happened.”