Women's Rights Pioneers Monument
Credits
The Women's Rights Pioneers Monument is a sculpture by Meredith Bergmann. It was installed in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, on August 26 (Women's Equality Day), 2020. The sculpture is located at the northwest corner of Literary Walk along The Mall, the widest pedestrian path in Central Park. The sculpture commemorates and depicts Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883), Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902), pioneers in the suffrage movement who advocated women's right to vote and who were pioneers of the larger movement for women's rights.
It is the first sculpture in Central Park to depict historical women. Statues of fictional characters Alice in Wonderland and Juliet from Romeo and Juliet are the only other female figures depicted in the park. Original plans for the memorial included only Stanton and Anthony, but after critics raised objections to the lack of inclusion of women of color, Truth was added to the design.
History
Since 2013, the Statue Fund/Monumental Women campaign (originally known as the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund) worked with the city to "break the bronze ceiling" in Central Park to create the first statue of non-fictional women in the Park's 165-year history. Previously, there had been no new additions to the statue collection in Central Park since the 1950s. The campaign was run by Gary Ferdman and Myriam Miedzian, who argued that Stanton and Anthony were ideal subjects for the monument based on their legacy as "long lasting leaders of the largest non-violent revolution in our nation's history." The Parks Department rejected the original Stanton/Anthony proposal multiple times, but eventually approved it when evidence was presented that Stanton and Anthony had a connection to Central Park.
Monumental Women raised $1.5 million in mostly private funding to pay for the statue, including contributions from foundations, businesses and over 1,000 individual donations. Several troops of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York have donated money from their cookie sales to the fund and the fund has received a $500,000 grant from New York Life. Manhattan borough president, Gale Brewer, who was a vocal supporter of the project, and Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal also donated a total of $135,000 to the project. Other supporters of the effort included numerous elected officials, every member of the New York City Council Women's Caucus, Congresswomen, U.S. Senators, and historians.
The Women's Rights Pioneers Monument was created by sculptor Meredith Bergmann, who in July 2018 was chosen out of 91 artists who applied for the commission to create the statue. The initial statue design was based off a photo of Anthony and Stanton side by side, with a long scroll tumbling down into a ballot box. The design received some controversy over the inclusion of names of other suffragettes on the scroll, with the New York Times stating that Anthony and Stanton "are standing on the names of these other women".
The New York City Public Design Commission approved Bergmann's statue design on October 21, 2019. The sculpture was unveiled in Central Park on August 26, 2020, also celebrated as Women's Equality Day, to mark the centennial anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote nationwide.
A tribute to monumental women
Credits
At a time when many statues are coming down, some lofty women just went up, breaking the bronze ceiling
A monument to suffrage pioneers Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was recently unveiled in New York City's Central Park. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who helped commemorate the event, noted that the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument is "the first statue of real, non-fictional woman" erected in the park.
The unveiling marked the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, though it's important to note that it would take many more decades for Black women's suffrage to truly be protected by law.
"I would say that a tremendous weight has been lifted – about 7,000 pounds!" said sculptor Meredith Bergmann, who spent three years bringing her creation to life.
Correspondent Faith Salie asked, "Why is it important to choose these particular pioneers?"
"Well, these are the pioneers that history has elevated," Bergmann replied. "They were the most accomplished. They were the loudest. But there's many, many others."
And there are many other cities putting women on pedestals. Cambridge, Massachusetts is considering designs for its suffrage monument. Last year, Richmond, Va., honored suffragist Adèle Clark. And now, a statue of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is planned in her birthplace, Brooklyn, N.Y.
But putting the first statues of real women in Central Park hasn't exactly been a walk in the park.
A few years ago, "Sunday Morning" spoke with Coline Jenkins, who happens to be Elizabeth Cady Stanton's great-great granddaughter, and Pam Elam, who run the Monumental Women campaign, the sponsors of the statue.
"How can you have statues of men everywhere, and the only statues of women are Mother Goose, Alice in Wonderland?" asked Jenkins. "We needed real women."
Elam recalled, "They said immediately, 'No. There will be no new statues in Central Park. It's a historical collection. No.' We persisted."
The city finally gave permission for Anthony and Stanton to stand among famous men, like Shakespeare and … Fitz-Greene Halleck?
But there was another problem: "Every commission that I've worked on has involved controversy," Bergmann said. "And things have to be reconsidered and often redesigned."
Bergmann's original design featured just Stanton and Anthony, along with a scroll naming many women of color who also played roles in the suffrage movement. But when the city rejected the scroll, only Anthony and Stanton were left standing.
And this design was met with backlash from Gloria Steinem, among others, not only for its lack of diversity, but also because of Anthony and Stanton's expressions of racist ideas.
"Susan B. Anthony said she'd rather cut off her right arm than give the Black man the right to vote over the woman," said Salamishah Tillet, a professor of African American Studies at Rutgers University. "And so, I remember being so both hurt by that sentiment. Do I look up to Susan B. Anthony, who was defending part of what I believed in, that all women should have the right to vote? Or what do I do with this kind of racist rhetoric of hers?"
Salie asked, "Do you think there should be monuments of Stanton and Anthony?"
"It would be sexist not to include their voices and their experiences," Tillet replied. "But also it would be racist not to understand that their championing of women's rights did not include the women who were fighting alongside them, like Sojourner Truth."
And it is Sojourner Truth – a woman who escaped slavery to become one of America's greatest orators – who now has a seat at the monument's table.
"Some historians have said that the addition of Truth is still problematic," said Salie, "because this depiction doesn't accurately represent the suffrage movement?"
"To have them in this kind of interracial harmony is not just inaccurate, but also it's kind of harmful," said Tillet. "To have a sanitized, whitewashed version of the women's movement doesn't serve any of us who call ourselves feminists in 2020."
Controversy notwithstanding, Bergmann said the statue is an artistic interpretation: "They represent different kinds of activism. Sojourner Truth, who was famous for speaking, is speaking. Stanton, who wrote wonderful speeches and books, is about to write. And Susan B. Anthony is showing them papers and pamphlets that she has brought from all her activism."
The fight for rights and representation continues to unfold. As this monument shows us, part of the challenge and beauty of America is that we have so many stories to tell.
Salie said, "Millions of people are gonna walk by this statue every year. What do you want this monument to say to them?"
"Oh, wow! I think I want the monument to say to them, 'Get busy!'" Bergmann replied.