A bronze statue depicting three national women’s rights leaders and pioneers – Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. All were also New Yorkers at some point in their life.
This statue is joining the 23 statues of historical figures located in New York’s Central Park, but it is the first to depict and honor real women. The artist, Meredith Bergmann, designed the figures as if they are working and collaborating – “They are an allegory of sisterhood, cooperation, and activism, but they are not just an allegory, as so many sculptures of women are.”
The statue’s journey started in 2014 by Monumental Women, a not-for-profit, volunteer organization, which set an initial goal to add a statue of real women in Central Park. They raised more than $1.5 million to the commission, install, and maintain the statue. The organization is still accepting donations for the maintenance of Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument, as well as to continue with their further goals – “increasing awareness and appreciation of Women’s History through a nationwide education campaign and challenging municipalities across the country to rethink the past and reshape the future by including tributes in their public spaces to the diverse women who helped create and inspire those cities.”
Its dedication day, August 26th, 2020, was chosen in advance since it was also the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the US constitution, giving women the right to vote.
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