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In Their Honor

On the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Monumental Women unveiled a statue honoring three suffragists.

On August 26, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, three pioneers of the suffrage movement joined the scores of prominent men whose statues grace New York鈥檚 Central Park. With the unveiling, the trio鈥擲ojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton鈥攂ecame the only historical women so honored. (All the other female figures represented in the park鈥檚 statuary are fictional.)

The statue was commissioned by the nonprofit Monumental Women. Its mission, says Namita Luthra 鈥91, is threefold: 鈥渢o 鈥榖reak the bronze ceiling鈥 in Central Park, challenge other municipalities to honor women and people of color in their public spaces, and create a women鈥檚 history education campaign.鈥

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Luthra, who sits on the Monumental Women board, continues, 鈥淓very year鈥 except during a global health pandemic鈥42 million people visit Central Park, and they deserve to see tributes to real women, the ones who gave their lives to expanding our definition of 鈥榃e the People.鈥 The Women鈥檚 Rights Pioneers Monument honoring Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton is a fitting start.鈥

Luthra first learned about the monument in 2016 from newspaper reports about the fund- and awareness-raising efforts of Girl Scouts. 鈥淢y daughter is a Girl Scout, and I presented the idea to her troop鈥攁 group of wonderful, intelligent fourth-graders, many of whom had grown up playing in Central Park. I鈥檒l never forget the moment I asked them if they鈥檇 ever noticed that the park had no statues of women. 鈥榃ait, not a single one?鈥 they asked incredulously.鈥

Inspired, the Scouts brainstormed ideas about how to contribute. Turning to that classic Girl Scout fundraiser, they decided to donate their cookie sale money to the project. That year, they raised $2,000, double their original goal, and presented all of it to Monumental Women.

The Scouts weren鈥檛 the only ones on the job. Monumental Women raised more than $1.5 million dollars鈥斺渘one of which,鈥 Luthra notes, 鈥渃ould have happened without the early and vital support of New York Life.鈥 Unwavering support also came from the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal, and more than 1,000 individual donations.

Sculptors from around the country submitted proposals to a design competition. From more than 90 submissions, a nine-member jury chose Meredith Bergmann鈥檚 design. The original design featured Anthony, Stanton, and a long scroll etched with quotations of diverse suffragists all leading to a ballot box.

The City鈥檚 Public Design Commission unanimously approved the monument but nixed the scroll and ballot box. 鈥淲e knew we had to include the diversity of women in a different way,鈥 Luthra explains. It was decided that another New Yorker, abolitionist and women鈥檚 rights advocate, Sojourner Truth, would take her rightful place at the table.

In September 2019, the amended design was presented to the Commission. 鈥淚, along with other Monumental Women board members, and Ms. Bergmann, testified at City Hall in favor of the new design,鈥 says Luthra. A month later, it was approved.

Located on Literary Walk鈥攁 prominent site in Central Park鈥 the monument stands 14 feet tall and weighs around 73,000 pounds (36 tons). 鈥淟ast fall when I saw the work in progress in the sculptor鈥檚 Connecticut studio,鈥 Luthra says, 鈥淚 was awed by the size but even more moved by the small details: Truth鈥檚 hand and Anthony鈥檚 alligator-skin bag bursting with papers including a Petition for Universal Suffrage.鈥

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Hillary Rodham Clinton and Meredith Bergmann at the unveiling.

The August 26 unveiling was a historic day, celebrating three women鈥檚 rights pioneers: Truth, Anthony, and Stanton鈥攁ll New Yorkers. As Luthra explains, 鈥淭hey sit, working around a table, each one representing a different arm of activism: speaking, writing, and as Anthony put it, 鈥榓gitating.鈥 Isn鈥檛 that the way so much of women鈥檚 work gets done鈥攈atching ideas, reimagining the world, and then going out to make change?鈥

And the monument was both seen and heard as six of the country鈥檚 most prominent actors gave voice to the three suffragists: Viola Davis speaking as Truth, Meryl Streep as Stanton, and Jane Alexander as Anthony. For the Spanish-language version, Zoe Saldana, Rita Moreno, and America Ferrera did the honors.

Speaking of the moment of the unveiling, Luthra says, 鈥淲e are asking everyone watching, no matter where they are in the world, to reimagine their public spaces in their towns and ask if they honor the important women who paved the way for generations to come?鈥

And, Luthra adds, 鈥淲e were delighted that Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton attended the unveiling in person. She said, 鈥業t seems especially appropriate that today on Women鈥檚 Equality Day, we are unveiling a new statue in Central Park for the first time in over six decades. The first statue of real, non-fictional women 鈥 the first statue of an African- American 鈥 and significantly, a statue that depicts three great Americans working together. 鈥 So, our charge now, as we stand in the great river of history, is to take the stories of the women in this statue and carry them forward into our schools, into the media, onto social media, and into our lives. ... There鈥檚 nothing more important, however, to honor the women portrayed in this statue, than to vote.鈥欌

The monument, Luthra explains, was always the start, and never the end, of the work. 鈥淗elping municipalities across the country reimagine their public spaces and pay tribute to the women and people of color who helped make them was always a central aim. Launching a women鈥檚 rights education campaign to make history come alive has also begun in earnest.鈥

For Luthra, Monumental Women鈥攖he Central Park statue, the effort to seed similar projects nationwide, and the educational component鈥攔epresents a long-standing commitment to advancing women鈥檚 rights. 鈥淢y time as a litigator at the ACLU Women鈥檚 Rights Project, founded by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1972, was among the most rewarding of my career,鈥 she says. 鈥淣ow, my work with Monumental Women pays homage to the past but keeps me laser-focused on the work toward full equality that lies ahead.鈥

And as far back as 今日吃瓜, Luthra was on the job: 鈥淚 remember researching in Canaday Library and writing a paper about the interconnectedness of the abolition and suffrage movements," she explains. 鈥淟ife has come full circle from that first research paper until now.鈥

Asked how she would persuade a skeptic of the projects鈥 significance, Luthra is eloquent: 鈥淲hen you excavate women鈥檚 history and learn the faces and voices of the fearless, strategic, and persistent women who came before and all they had to overcome, it feels like there鈥檚 no limit to what you can achieve. There鈥檚 an unbroken link that ties their generation to ours and ours to the generations of girls and women still to come.鈥

Published on: 11/25/2020