Women's Rights Pioneers Monument facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Women's Rights Pioneers Monument |
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The Women's Rights Pioneers Monument is a special sculpture in Central Park, New York City. It was put in place on August 26, 2020, which is also Women's Equality Day. This statue honors three amazing women: Sojourner Truth (who lived from about 1797 to 1883), Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902). These women were very important leaders in the fight for women's right to vote and for equal rights for all women.
This monument is the first statue in Central Park to show real women from history. (There is another statue of a girl, but she is a fictional character from Alice in Wonderland.) When the idea for the monument first started, it only included Stanton and Anthony. But people felt it was important to include women of color. So, Sojourner Truth was added to the design.
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How the Statue Was Made
Since 2013, a group called the Statue Fund/Monumental Women worked hard to get this statue built. Their goal was to "break the bronze ceiling" in Central Park. This means they wanted to create the first statue of real women in the park's long history.
Monumental Women raised a lot of money, about $1.5 million, mostly from private donations. This included gifts from groups, businesses, and over 1,000 people. Even some Girl Scouts helped by donating money from their cookie sales!
Many important people supported this effort. These included city leaders, members of the New York City Council, and U.S. Senators. Historians and other groups also gave their support.
Choosing the Artist
The Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument was created by a sculptor named Meredith Bergmann. In July 2018, she was chosen from 91 artists who wanted to design the statue.
The New York City Public Design Commission approved Bergmann’s design on October 21, 2019. The statue was shown to the public in Central Park on August 26, 2020. This date was chosen because it was the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. This important amendment gave women across the United States the right to vote.
Statue Design and Meaning
In 1995, Meredith Bergmann was working on a film in Central Park. She noticed that there were no statues of important women who had achieved great things. Twenty-three years later, she was the artist chosen to create a statue honoring women from the women's suffrage movement in Central Park.
To choose the artist, Monumental Women asked sculptors to show their past work and ideas for the monument. Ninety-one artists applied from all over the country. A group of art experts, historians, and park representatives reviewed the submissions. Four artists were chosen to create models of their ideas. Meredith Bergmann's design was finally picked.
The statue shows Sojourner Truth speaking, Susan B. Anthony organizing, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton writing. Bergmann saw these as "three essential elements of activism." She studied these women carefully, looking at photos and descriptions. She wanted to show their true personalities, not just how they looked. Bergmann believes it's important for a monument to be "larger than life." This shows the huge impact these women had on history.
Bergmann worked very quickly to finish the statue by August 26, 2020. This was the fastest she had ever completed such a big project. After her design was approved in October 2019, she immediately started making the 9-foot-tall clay figures. The rest of the process, like making molds and pouring bronze, took almost all the remaining time.
The sculpture was placed in Central Park on August 25, 2020. This was just in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. This amendment gave American women the right to vote.
Why the Statue Is Important
The Statue Fund/Monumental Women group faced some challenges while getting the statue approved. The first idea for the statue only showed Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They were holding a scroll with the names of 22 other women who fought for women's right to vote. Some people felt this made these other activists seem less important.
In a second design, the scroll was removed. This version still only had Stanton and Anthony. The New York City Public Design Commission approved this design. However, they also said that the group should find ways to honor women of color who were part of the women's right to vote movement.
Many people felt it was very important to include women of color. This was especially true because Stanton and Anthony had written a book called The History of Woman Suffrage. Some scholars said this book did not fully include the contributions of black women. However, others found that the book did mention many African American women suffragists, including Sojourner Truth and Frances E. W. Harper.
Because of this public feedback, the statue was redesigned again. This time, it included three figures: Anthony, Stanton, and Sojourner Truth. Truth was an African American abolitionist, suffragist, and activist. She was active at the same time as Anthony and Stanton. Many people were happy that Truth was included to represent women of color in the movement.
Truth is famous for her 1851 speech, "Ain't I a Woman?" There are different versions of this speech. The statue does not pick one specific version.
See also
In Spanish: Monumento de las Pioneras de los Derechos de las Mujeres para niños
