Capital Journal | Article | Staff Writer

South Dakota ‘Her Flag’ stripe being added Jan. 30 at Cultural Heritage Center

The South Dakota stripe of the national ‘Her Flag’ project will be added Thursday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The event is free to the public.

Her Flag project founder Marilyn Artus, an Oklahoma artist, will sew on the South Dakota stripe. Vermillion artist Klaire Lockheart, who designed the South Dakota stripe, will also be present. Sioux Falls music educator Janelle Lafrentz will entertain while Artus sews.

When completed, the flag will measure 18 feet tall by 26 feet wide.

Her Flag is a collaborative art flag that is being created through the course of its 14-month journey with Artus to the 36 states that ratified the 19th Amendment giving most women the right to vote in 1920. South Dakota became the 21st state to ratify the amendment, on Dec. 4, 1919.

“We are proud to serve as a host for this nationwide activity celebrating women’s suffrage,” said Jay Smith, museum director for the South Dakota State Historical Society. “Her Flag representatives will have a table at the event, and the museum will stay open from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Jan. 30 so people will have an extra chance to see the new suffrage exhibit at the Cultural Heritage Center entitled ‘The Right is Ours’: Women Win the Vote.”

Artus has selected the 36 women artists collaborating with the project. Each woman currently lives in one of the 36 states that ratified the 19th Amendment. Each has designed one stripe for the 36-stripe flag.

The resulting art flag is being created as it travels to each of the 36 states in the order of the 19th Amendment’s ratification. The art flag will ultimately measure 18’x26’ when complete after its 14-month journey across the USA in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

“I am on a mission to make sure that every woman I come in contact with over this 14-month adventure is registered to vote and gets out in 2020 to put that registration to use.” said project founder, artist and suffrage-era enthusiast, Marilyn Artus. “But celebrating this anniversary isn’t just about women. This was a fight. It took Democrats and Republicans and men and women and black, white and Native Americans working together to get this amendment passed. Her Flag is not a political piece of work, rather a powerful, positive symbol used to educate and celebrate this truly momentous American anniversary.”