On Virginia state capitol grounds stands the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial, honoring people from the civil rights movement in Virginia who led and participated in the protests for school desegregation in the state. The Virginia government initiated the project to erect the memorial in 2005. They chose Stanley Bleifeld’s design and held the official unveiling ceremony on July 21st, 2008. The monument consists of 18 bronze statues mounted on the four sides of a white granite wall. Leading the group is Barbara Rose Johns, portrayed as she was 16 years old when she organized and led the student strike for equal education opportunities at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville. After the protests, the students, with the NAACP’s legal support, filed the case Davis v. Prince Edward County, the only student-initiated case that eventually was consolidated into the Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that school segregation was unconstitutional. Also portrayed in the memorial are Spottswood Robinson, Oliver Hill, and Reverend L. Francis Griffin. The following quotes are inscribed on the granite wall: “It seemed like reaching for the moon.” Barbara Rose Johns and “The legal system can force open doors and sometimes even knock down walls, but it cannot build bridges. That job belongs to you and me.” Justice Thurgood Marshall. The nearby plaque describes the events. Also standing on Virginia state capitol grounds is the Virginia Women’s Monument celebrating the legacy of 12 Virginian women. Read more about it here. Read more...

The statue of Grace White Sherwood, also known as the Witch of Pungo, honors her legacy as a healer and herbalist and commemorates her unfair treatment. Grace White Sherwood (1660-1740) was a farmer, healer, midwife, and mother of three who lived with her husband on a farm in Pungo (today, part of Virginia Beach), Virginia. Sherwood’s neighbors accused her several times of witchcraft, accusing her of many accusations, from casting a spell on their animals and cotton crops to transforming into a black cat; Sherwood had to defend herself in court and lost most of the cases. In 1706, she was already a widow and was taken to court on the accusation of bewitching her neighbor and causing her a miscarriage. The court investigated ways to prove she was a witch, searching her home and examining her body. When two “witch marks” were found on her body, the court ordered the ducking test to check her purity. She is a witch if she floats and innocent if she sinks. On the morning of July 10th, 1706, in Lynnhaven River near today Witchduck Road, in the presence of a large crowd, Sherwood was thrown into the river; she succeeded in untying herself and floating. She was sent to jail and spent there about eight years. Afterward, she claimed farm ownership and lived there until her death. There are many legends about her death; some say that her body disappeared through the chimney, that her devil took it, others that unnatural storms happened after she died, and many other stories. In 1973, Virginia Beach historian and author Louisa Venable Kyle wrote a children’s book about Sherwood, bringing Sherwood’s story back to the public attention. 300 years after her conviction, on July 10th, 2006, Governor Tim Kaine cleared her name with an informal pardon. About a year later, on April 21st, 2007, her statue by Robert Cunningham was dedicated at the junction of Independence Blvd and North Witchduck Road on the grounds of the Sentara Independence hospital. Sherwood is depicted as a healer holding a basket of rosemary and standing alongside a raccoon, representing her love of animals. Bronze plaques on the base tell her story, the story of the trial, and present a copy of the governor’s pardon letter. Read more...

In the heart of downtown Richmond in a plaza that bears her name, stands a 10-foot-tall bronze statue of one of the most prominent women of Richmond, Maggie L. Walker (1864-1934), who was a civil rights leader, educator, businesswoman, and entrepreneur. Since several months after her death in 1934, people called to commemorate her legacy with a statue. There were several private initiatives in 1999 and 2008. In late 2013, the Public Art Commission gathered a team of citizens (including members of Walker’s family), museum professionals, and public art representatives, and the project took off. The committee chose the artist Antonio Tobias Mendez, also known as Toby Mendez, to design and create the statue with inputs from local organizations, including the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site. At last, on July 15th, 2017, which also marked Walker’s 153rd birthday, in front of almost 1000 people, the statue was unveiled by Walker’s great-great-granddaughter Liza Mickens, the sculptor Toby Mendez, and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney. It is the first statue honoring an African American woman on the streets of Richmond. It stands at the entrance of the Jackson Ward, a historically Black neighborhood, and close to Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site. Three bronze bas-reliefs depict Walker’s landmarks on the statue’s base: St. Luke Headquarters 900 St. James St, Penny Savings Bank 329 N. 1st Street, and St. Luke Emporium 112 E. Broad St. Ten benches surround the statue, each marking a key milestone in Walker’s life: 1864 – Born July 15 to Elizabeth Draper and later works with her mother as a laundress to make ends meet 1883 – Graduates from Richmond Colored Normal School, teaches for three years before marrying Armstead Walker, Jr. 1899 – Leads Independent Order of St. Luke (IOSL) as Right Worthy Grand Secretary with the vision for banking, newspaper, and retail enterprises 1903 – Charters St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, becoming the nation’s first African American female bank president 1904 – Uses her newspaper, St. Luke Herald, to incite a two-year boycott of Richmond’s segregated streetcars 1905 – Operates the St. Luke Emporium, offering retail, employment, and training opportunities for Richmond’s black women 1921 – Campaign for Virginia’s Superintendent of Public Instruction on an all-black political ticket By 1925 – Transforms IOSL from a struggling burial society into a thriving insurance company in over 20 states with 100,000 members 1920-1930s – Influential leader in NAACP, National Association of Colored Women, Urban League, National Negro Business League 1934 – Passes away December 15 at her home, imparting a legacy of service, activism, and empowerment Just a few minutes of walk will take you to the Virginia State Capitol grounds where the Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women’s Monument stands; Maggie L. Walker is one of the 12 women honored with a statue there. Read more...

The Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women’s Monument stands at the Virginia State Capitol, honoring the founding mothers of Virginia and commemorating their contribution to the state and the US. The idea for the memorial was initiated in 2009 by the Virginia native, actress, and writer, Em Bowles Locker Alsop. A year later, the Virginia General Assembly approved it, and the fundraising began. All of it was funded from donations from local corporations, nonprofit foundations, and individuals. It was dedicated on October 14th, 2019. The monument features life-sized bronze statues of 12 women from every region and ethnicity of the state, symbolizing more than 400 years of the state’s existence. They were all chosen for the creativity, brave, dedication, and the impact they made on Virginia and its residents in various walks of life. The ladies in the statues are: Anne Burras Laydon (c. 1594-after 1625) – One of the first English settlers in Virginia. She arrived at Jamestown and was the first English settler to marry in the New World. Cockacoeske (1656-1686) – a Pamunkey chief who was the first tribal leader to sign the Virginia-Indian Treaty of Middle Plantation, which guaranteed her tribe its territory, hunting and fishing rights and other protections under the colonial government. Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802) – The first First Lady of the US, George Washington’s wife. Mary Draper Ingles (c.1732-1815) – a frontierswoman and American pioneer who escaped captivity during the French and Indian War. Her courageous escape and 600 miles journey back home was published 30 years after she died. Clementina Bird Rind (1740-1774) – One of the first businesswomen and the first female newspaper printer and publisher in Virginia. Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818-1907) – a civil rights activist, seamstress, and author. She was born enslaved and purchased her and her son’s freedom. Build a successful seamstress business and became the modiste and confidante of the First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. She is also honored on an old Fire Callbox in Washington, DC. Sally Louisa Tompkins (1833-1916) – a nurse who sponsored and administered the biggest hospital in Richmond during the Civil War. She was the only woman to be commissioned in the Confederate Army. Maggie L. Walker (1864-1934) – a businesswoman, educator, and civil rights activist. She was the first African-American woman in the US to found a bank. Sarah G. Boyd Jones (1866-1905) – a physician who co-founded the Richmond hospital. She was the first woman to pass the board and practice medicine in Virginia. Laura Lu Copenhaver (1868-1940) – a writer, businesswoman, and entrepreneur. She served as the director of information for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and promoted agriculture in Virginia. Virginia Estelle Randolph (1875-1958) – an African-American educator who dedicated her life to improving education for African-American kids and promoting vocational training throughout the country. Adele Goodman Clark (1882-1983) – artist and suffragist who co-founded the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia and advocated for equal rights for women. The statues, sculpted by Ivan Schwartz, stand around a sundial engraved with names of different Virginia localities. Behind them are granite benches inscribed with a quote from a speech the Virginian author Mary Johnston gave to an all-male crowd at the 1912 Richmond conference of state governors. “It did not come up in a night, the woman movement, and it is in no danger of perishing from view. It is here to stay and grow […] It is indestructible, it is moving on with an ever-increasing depth and velocity, and it is going to revolutionize the world.” A wall of honor, made of glass panels, features names of more than 200 prominent Virginia women, with some space to add more in the future. The statues stand at eye level, so the visitors can interact with them and view them as imperfect human beings and not as heroes on pedestals. The monument emphasizes the achievements of the ordinary person so that everyone can see themselves in those women and get inspired by them. Explore more about women in Richmond in this Segway tour. Read more...

On May 16th, 2021, a national memorial honoring all of the five million American suffragists who fought for more than seven decades to win passage of the 19th Amendment was dedicated in Lorton, Virginia. It is located within Occoquan Regional Park which is part of the historic prison grounds wherein 1917 scores were illegally jailed for quietly picketing the White House with banners held high demanding their voting rights. These women were known as Silent Sentinels. The memorial serves as a visual symbol and educational tool to raise these little-known women to their proper place in history. The garden-style monument consists of four connected plazas that include a variety of educational structures. One enters the memorial through replica White House gates that lead to a Suffragist Commemorative Wall and 19 informational stations. There are three bronze, life-size statues of suffrage leaders – Alice Paul, co-founder of the National Woman’s Party and author of the Equal Rights Amendment; Mary Church Terrell, co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and founder of the League of Women Voters. With an effort led by the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and supported by the National Park Service, the memorial boasts a 24’ section of the actual White House Fence in front of which the Silent Sentinels protested in 1917. It had originally been erected in the late 1800s. The memorial project began in 2007 and was supported by governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals from 45 states and DC. Initial partners were the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association (TPSMA) and NOVA Parks. NOVA Parks donated the land and agreed to maintain the memorial in perpetuity. TPSMA agreed to raise all the funds to build the monument and oversaw its construction. The memorial is now owned, operated, and maintained by NOVA Parks. TPSMA dissolved once it had completed its mission to “educate, inspire, and empower present and future generations to remain vigilant in the quest for equal rights” through the completion of this unique monument. Close by to the memorial is the Lucy Burns Museum, which is located in one of the galleries in the Workhouse Arts Center, which was once the historic Lorton prison. The museum’s permanent exhibition is primarily about the US suffrage movement with an emphasis on the women jailed there in 1917. The museum includes the opportunity to stroll through refurbished prison cells and see the living conditions in which most inmates were housed. The suffragists were actually incarcerated across the street from this facility in a wooden, dormitory-style building known as the Occoquan Workhouse where they were kept in inhumane conditions and forced to work. That building was torn down in the 1960s. Read more...

The Edmonson Sisters Memorial Statue is commemorating the unique story of Mary and Emily Edmonson. The sisters, daughters of a free black man and an enslaved woman, were born into slavery and worked as servants in Washington, DC. On the night of April 15th, 1848, the sisters, along with 4 of their brothers and 71 other slaves, tried to escape to their freedom. They planned to sail on the Potomac River to the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware River to New Jersey, where slavery was illegal. But the ship, “The Pearl,” was caught at Maryland and towed back to DC. The Edmonson sisters, who were 13 and 15 at that time, were sold to a slave trader in Alexandria. Because of their escaping attempt, it was hard to find buyers who would take the risk of purchasing them, and until then, they were held in a slave jail. Their father and their older brother, both free men, worked tirelessly to free them, and with the help of preacher Henry Ward Beecher and his church members, they raised enough funds – a sum of $2,250 – to buy the sisters and free them. On November 4th, 1848, the Edmonson sisters were emancipated. Beecher’s congregation continued to support the sisters and contributed money to send them to school and get an education.   The 10-foot-tall bronze statue, created by Erik Blome and dedicated on June 25th, 2010, in Duke St., Alexandria, VA, depicts Mary and Emily Edmonson holding hands while emerging from the shadow of slavery. The sisters, who became an icon in the abolitionist movement, are looking towards the African American Heritage Park, while the statue itself is standing next to the site that once was the slave-holding facility that the sisters were held in. A nearby plaque is describing their story, which was also included in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Read more...

A national monument, museum, and education center to honor the women who have defended the country in the past, present, and future, from the American Revolution to current day service. The monument was designed by the architect Marion Gail Weiss, and was dedicated on October 18th, 1997. The visit starts at the Hemicycle – the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery and continues to the main gallery, where one can explore the displays about the women serving in the armed forces. At the Hall of Fame, visitors learn about the women who were taken as war prisoners, killed in the line of duty, and earned high honors for their service or bravery. There are documentary films about the various roles of women in the US armed forces, with personal stories and items from their time in the service, including artifacts, photographs, documents, and uniforms throughout the years. The museum hosts permanent and special exhibits, as well as special events such as Veteran’s Day activities and ‘Book Launch Event’. Finish your tour at the rooftop terrace, where you can see the Memorial Bridge and other monuments in the area. Read more...