It took 36 states to ratify the 19th Amendment into law. In June of 2019, Marilyn Artus, begin a 14 month road trip over 17 separate trips, traveling in order of ratification to all 36 states that ratified the amendment, to collaborate with a women artist in each state. Together they created a flag with 36 stripes, one for each of the ratifying states to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the amendment in 2020.

Each artist publicly handed her the stripe representing her state and Marilyn sewed it onto the flag in her capital city. She engaged with each local community to provide a woman musician or performer the opportunity to participate in this celebration as well. The public was invited to witness this performance and take a moment to remember this important anniversary.

In 2019, Marilyn completed over 20,000 miles in her car before the end of the year. She got to the 25th state to ratify, Oregon, before Covid-19 stopped the traveling to make Her Flag. She began live-streaming the sewing of each stripe from her home in Oklahoma. Her Flag was completed on August 18th, 2020 when Marilyn sewed the final stripe on via live-streaming from Nashville, Tennessee.

The 19th amendment states: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. This amendment did legally give all women the right to vote, but, laws within each state varied and did create complications for many women in exercising this right. Jim Crow Laws in the South impeded many African Americans from voting until the 1960s and Native Americans did not have full voting rights in all 50 states until 1970. Asian-American women could not vote until 1952. Women's history is often times over looked, we think this anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate and discuss the many challenges related to voting in the past and present for women and people of color.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROJECT GO TO: HERFLAG.COM