In front of The Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, IL, stands a larger-than-life bronze bust of the pioneering British chemist Rosalind Franklin. Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) graduated in 1941 with a degree in natural sciences from Newnham College, Cambridge. After researching coal at the British Coal Utilisation Research Association, she earned her Ph.D. from Cambridge in 1945. The following year, Franklin took a postdoctoral research position at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l’Etat, where he developed expert X-ray crystallography skills. In 1951, she became a research associate at King’s College London. There, Franklin discovered the DNA properties, which led to the breakthrough in understanding the DNA double helix structure. In her lifetime, she did not receive the recognition she deserved. Sadly, while working on pioneering work on the molecular structures of viruses, she died of ovarian cancer at age 37. Four years before Crick, Watson and Wilkins won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the helical structure of the DNA molecule. The Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago was founded as the Chicago Hospital-College of Medicine in 1912, a night school for medical students. With time, more schools and programs in health-related fields were added and renamed several times. In 2004 it was renamed Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. As of 2022, the private graduate school has five schools Chicago Medical School, College of Health Professions, College of Pharmacy, Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine, and School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Sculptor Julie Rotblatt Amrany of Rotblatt-Amrany in Chicago was chosen by the university to create the statue honoring Franklin. On May 29, 2014, Martin Franklin, her nephew, and Rosalind Franklin Jekowsky, her niece, who serves as a trustee for the university, unveiled the statue in a special ceremony. The statue depicts Franklin in 1952, holding photo 51 in her left hand, an X-ray diffraction pattern of the B form of DNA that enabled the breakthrough in understanding the DNA structure. This image is also on the university’s seal and logo. This statue joins the few statues and memorials honoring real women in Chicago. Click here to see the list. Read more...

For the celebration of the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US constitution, which granted women their voting rights, the Women’s Suffrage Centennial 2020 committee (WSC2020), a coalition of civic and women’s advocacy organizations, planned a yearlong calendar of educational programs and artistic events celebrating this historic event. During this year, WSC2020 organized the creation of the Women’s Centennial Sculpture. The mosaic artist Susan Burton designed and created it in collaboration with the community. With all the challenges enforced by the global Covid-19 pandemic, the monument was dedicated on October 31st, 2020. The monument is 15-foot-tall and includes a three-panel tower and six surrounding benches. One panel depicts a Rockford suffragist and one of the movement leaders in Illinois, Kate F. O’Connor. The second panel features inspirational Rockford educator and activist Dr. Connie Goode, who fought for voting rights for all people of color. The last panel depicts the future—four young women representing different cultures and ethnicities who can freely express their voices. The tower sits on a circular base with images of prominent US suffragists like Ida B. Wells and Sojourner Truth. The six mosaic benches surrounding the central tower offer a gathering place overlooking the river bank. Read more...

Katherine Dunham Museum is at the former home of Katherine Dunham (1909-2006), a famous and influential dancer and choreographer. The museum features Dunham’s collection of costumes, photographs, letters, awards, and other items of her career as a dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Also on display are more than 250 African and Caribbean art pieces she collected from her travels worldwide. Dunham was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and was dancing since she was little. While studying classical ballet and forming the first all-black dance group and dance school, she studied anthropology at the University of Chicago. As an anthropology student, she visited the Caribbean islands and Haiti. It inspired her to create a unique dance technique combining the Caribbean and African ritual rhythm and movement with European modern and ballet dancing. She toured all over the US and the world with her dance group and got famous as “the mother of black dance.” Dunham arrived at the area in 1964 to teach at Southern Illinois University–Carbondale and bought the former Maurice Joyce Mansion, one of the most beautiful houses in East St. Louis. She worked to improve the life of the people in East St. Louis, taught dance, and invited the public to enjoy her art collection on the first floor of her house. Upon her death in 2006, the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities was founded. It is a “non-profit, multi-disciplinary arts organization founded by, and operated under the memory and legacy of dance legend Katherine Dunham.” Besides operating the museum, the organization created an arts education program in East St. Louis, workshops, an annual two-week seminar in Dunham Technique, and more. Read more...

On June 30th, 2021, ninety years after she passed away, a monument honoring one of the most notorious women in Chicago, the journalist, and activist, Ida B. Wells, was unveiled. Wells was a former slave who became a teacher and a journalist and wrote about racial discrimination and lynchings all over the US. She raised national and international awareness of injustice when she published her researches in the local newspaper she co-owned and co-edited in Memphis. Wells relocated to Chicago after the newspaper office got burned, and her life was at risk. In Chicago, she continued dedicating her life fighting for equal rights and suffrage. Before her death, she was considered “the most famous black woman in the world.” It took 13 years of fundraising and advocating for this monument, mainly by Wells’ great-granddaughter, Michelle Duster. Duster is devoting her life to get Wells the recognition she deserves. Her efforts led the city of Chicago to name a street in Wells’ honor and place a marker near her house. Duster is also an author and a Public Historian. The monument committee chose the artist Richard Hunt to create it. Hunt is famous for using the inspiration of his African-American heritage in his art. The monument stands in a park on the land where Ida B. Wells’ homes used to stand, and it is close to where Wells lived in the neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago. It is the second statue in the city honoring a woman of color. The first one was dedicated only 3 years before, honoring the poet Gwendolyn Brooks. A movie about the process of creating and installing the monument was created by the director and producer, Rana Segal, and the producer Laurie Little. Click for more info. Read more...

A life-size bronze statue of Judge Laura Cha-Yu Liu (1966-2016), honoring her life, legacy, and commemorating her many firsts: the first Chinese-American female judge at the Circuit Court of Illinois, the first Chinese-American judge at the Illinois Appellate Court, and the first Chinese-American in Chicago to be elected to public office. Liu died from breast cancer when she was only 49 years old. The sculpture, made by Eric Blome in 2017, was the first bronze portrait in a Chicago park to depict a woman when it was dedicated on April 15th, 2017. It is located at Ping Tom Park, in Chicago’s Chinatown along the Chicago River, and is also a spectacular viewpoint of the city’s skyline. The artist Eric Blome also created the Edmonson Sisters Memorial Statue in Washington, DC, and the Rosa Parks statue in Dallas, TX.   Read more...

3.23 acres of landscaped grounds and community garden are dedicated to the women of Chicago and their contributions to the city throughout the years. Designed by the architect Tannys Langdon and Landscape architect Mimi McKay, the park provides a quiet place to relax as well as a community center featuring a café, kids science labs, fitness studios, and an indoor children’s playgroud. Between the rose garden and the apple orchard, you’ll pass by the Botanical Gardens Fountain. The path around the fountain is a symbol of a woman’s life, moving in and out of the roles and boundaries dictated by society. You’ll also see the “Helping Hands” sculpture, a monument dedicated to Jane Addams – a reformer, activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. The sculpture, made by Louise Bourgeios, is commemorating Addams’ efforts helping people in need and promoting women’s status. Pay a visit to the Clarke House – the oldest surviving building within Chicago’s Historic District, and enjoy special events such as Outdoor Movies, Concert and Nature Theatre. Read more...

A sculpture is honoring Gwendolyn Brooks – a poet and author, the first African-American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. In her poems, she used to write about everyday people and problems and believed that poetry can change the world. Dedicated on June 7th, 2018, this is the first sculpture of an African-American woman in a Chicago public park. The bronze portrait, made by Margot McMahon, is surrounded by a circle of sitting-stones. McMahon created the sculpture to educate people about Brooks’s life and legacy by engaging with the statue. A step-stone path, inscribed with quotations from Brooks’ award-winning poetry book “Annie Allen,” leads the visitors to a wooden porch which represents the one in Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, where the poet wrote her first poems as a child. Read more...

A bronze statue of a young girl standing with bare feet on a stone, offering water to the people passing by. It was originally made in the 19th century as part of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) campaign to offer freshwater as an alternative to liquor. The WCTU recruited 350,000 children who signed abstinence pledges and donated pennies and nickels to create the drinking fountain. Made by George Wade, the statue was first displayed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Copies of the statue were installed in other cities in the US and abroad. One is located in Portland, Maine, dedicated to Lillian Stevens, the president of the Maine WCTU and the second national president of WCTU. Another copy, erected in London, honored Lady Henry Somerset, president of the British WCTU. Throughout the years, the statue moved from one place to another until it was stolen from Lincoln Park in the 1950s. In 2012, the statue was reproduced and installed once again at the park. Today, the statue is known as Frances Willard Memorial, honoring the suffragist and the national president of the WCTU for 19 years. Read more...

The “Helping Hands” monument at Chicago Women’s Park & Gardens is a memorial to Jane Addams – a social reformer, women’s rights activist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner who is known as the “mother of the social work movement.” This is the first major artwork in Chicago to commemorate a significant woman. The monument was created by the sculptress Louise Bourgeois in 1993. Bourgeois chose to commemorate Addams in a way that will present her legacy and impact and not just her status figure. The memorial is s series of black granite hands placed on stone pedestals. The hands, some rest alone and some holding other hands, are symbolizing the broad spectrum of people Addams reached out to, from all ages, races, and backgrounds, as well as Addams’ endless humanity and generosity towards people in need. It was initially dedicated on August 26th, 1996, Women’s Equality Day, on Chicago’s lakefront at Navy Pier Park. Due to vandalism and lakefront location, it was renovated and reinstalled in 2011 at Chicago Women’s Park.   Read more...

The Woman Made Gallery is a feminist contemporary art venue providing opportunities for women artists to exhibit their work. The gallery’s goal is to support and cultivate female-identified artists’ work, as well as to ensure the equal placement of women’s art in the world. Through the exhibitions, the gallery encourages a discussion about the meaning of feminism today. Explore the artworks of more than 150 female artists from different backgrounds and points of view, including the works of Mary Stoppert, Barbara Grunewald, and Natalie Jackson O’Neal. There are various group exhibitions, solo exhibitions, and Artisan Gallery displaying paintings, media artworks, ceramic, sculptures, and other artifacts. There are also literary events and educational programs. The Woman Made Gallery was founded in 1992 as a senior school project of two artists: Kelly Hensen and Beate Minkovski. Over time, the collaboration between the two evolved into a non-profit organization providing opportunities for female artists of all ages and backgrounds. Since then, the gallery has exhibited artworks by more than 8000 women. Read more...