Photo: Michael Bergmann
It took more than 150 years, but come 2020, New York City’s Central Park will erect its first statue honoring women.
The city’s Public Design Commission approved a long-gestating statue of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth on Monday, adding them to a lineup that already includes 23 different statues of men.
The women — all major figures in the fight for women’s suffrage — are gathered together around a table, with Truth speaking, Anthony organizing, and Stanton writing, Bergmann explained in astatement.
It will be dedicated in August on the park’s Mall, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of American women winning the right to vote.
RELATED VIDEO: ‘Pathetic’: Artist Slammed for Installing Statue of Urinating Dog Next to ‘Fearless Girl’
Central Park currently has nearly two dozen statues of men scattered throughout its greenery, includingChristopher Columbus, Alexander Hamilton and Hans Christian Andersen. The only women featured, however, are fictional characters, like Alice in Wonderland, Mother Goose and Juliet ofRomeo and Juliet.
The addition of Truth, an escaped slave and abolitionist, was added only after the statue design faced criticism for excluding African American suffragists, the AP reported.
The nonprofitMonumental Womenhas been helping raise the $1.5 million needed to create and maintain the statue, according to its website.
“This statue conveys the power of women working together to bring about revolutionary change in our society,” Monumental Women president Pam Elam told the AP.
source: people.com
