CLARKSVILLE, TN – Two Austin Peay State University professors will soon premiere their documentary about the creation of Tennessee Triumph – a Clarksville monument that celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment, which secured women’s right to vote.
APSU professors and filmmakers Karen Bullis and Kathy Lee Heuston will attend the debut of “Tennessee Triumph: Making a Monument” at 6 p.m. June 3 at Customs House Museum & Cultural Center. The film’s premiere will be a part of the First Thursday Art Walk in downtown Clarksville.
Their documentary spans two years of planning, creating and installing the monument and features interviews with the Clarksville women who worked to make the sculpture happen. Interviews include Ellen Kanervo, Rosalind Kurita, Khandra Smalley, Brenda Harper, Melissa Miller, Martha Pile and 9-year-old Margaux Silvey, who raised $1,000 to help fund the monument.
The film also includes scenes of sculptor Roy W. Butler in Alpine, Utah, shaping the clay, Gary Streadbeck explaining how a bronze statue is fabricated and local architect Pam Powell discussing the design and construction of the monument base.
The monument is a 1.25 times life-sized statue of a woman casting a ballot represents all Clarksville women who worked for suffrage. Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, which became part of the U.S. Constitution on Aug. 26, 1920. Tennessee Triumph was dedicated on Aug. 18, 2020, at Clarksville’s Public Square.
Bullis and Heuston are professors in APSU’s Department of Communication.