McMinn County Living Heritage Museum
(Athens, Tn)
McMinn County Living Heritage Museum, in serving their mission to steward the history and heritage of McMinn County and the Southeast Tennessee region, has reserved the most prominent display location for a memorial dedicated the Suffragettes (McMinn County Living Heritage Museum, 2011). This first display that you see upon entering the Living Heritage Museum is intended to reflect high honor to the women (and also a very special man) who helped to make Tennessee the "Perfect 36" as we know it. Within the display, you will experience an awe striking replica of the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial (located in Knoxville, Tn) as well as other memorabilia relating to the Suffrage Movement, such as items reflecting on Harry T. Burn. Burn was the Tennessee General Assembly representative from McMinn County which cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment giving women across America the right to vote. As you would imagine, Burns is a great source of pride for the local McMinn County historians, as he should be for all Tennesseans. One cannot speak of contributions of Tennessee political leaders on the national scene without including Representative Harry T. Burns.
Display Items:
Seen here is a replica of the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial located in Knoxville, Tn (McMinn County Living Heritage Museum, 2011)
According to Blackburn, the Burn family still resides in McMinn County and have been active donors to the Living Heritage Museum display as well as prominent donors to other Suffragette memorials including the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial (2012). Included in the display are the following items honoring Representative Burn's contributions to the movement:
Two Photos of Harry T. Burn
(Stamps by the United Postal Service showing Burn, right)
(Stamps by the United Postal Service showing Burn, right)
Burn's High School Diploma
The display also contains many newspaper articles from the 1900s. One highlight in particular is that the 1988 county election resulted in all of Niota's City Board positions to be held by women. The article entitled "Golden Girls Replace Town's Good Ole' Boys," published in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution on Saturday, March 11, 1989 can be seen in two sections below (McMinn County Heritage Museum, 2011). This was decidedly a landmark occasion reflecting progress for not only Tennessee, but also for all Americans. This is undoubtedly a cause to include these six women in the display dedicated to the suffragist cause.