Boston, MA, USA
This memorial honors the extraordinary life and legacy of the social justice work of Kip Tiernan.
Tiernan was a social activist who devoted her life to improving the lives of the poor, homeless and less fortunate people. In 1974, she founded Rosie’s Place, the first women homeless shelter in the US, and till her death in 2011, she founded and supported many organizations in Boston. Among these are the Greater Boston Food Bank, Emergency Shelter Commission, Aid to Incarcerated Mothers, Finex House, Food for Free, My Sister’s Place, Transition House, and the Greater Boston Union of the Homeless.
The memorial stands since October 6th, 2018, near Tiernan’s former office at Old South Church. Funded by private donations and created by the duo Carla Ceruzzi and Ryan Murphy of Ceruzzi and Murphy Projects.
It consists of three metal arches with inscribed quotes from “Urban Meditations,” which Tiernan co-authored with her advocacy partner Fran Froehlich.
It is one of a few memorials in Boston honoring women. Read more...
Boston, MA, USA
On display at the Student Life and Performance Center’s Blumenthal Family Library is a bust of the civil rights leader and a former student of the New England Conservatory, Coretta Scott King.
King devoted her life to advocate for equal rights to all women and men kind to peace, justice, and none violence. She was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. for 15 years till he was assassinated in 1968. Upon his unexpected and terrible death, she continued to lead the civil rights movement, raising their four children and working on commemorating her husband’s legacy.
King’s second passion was music, and she graduated from the New England Conservatory in 1954 with a music education degree. She gave up her dream to become a classical singer but used to sing on the movement’s rallies. In 1971 she received an honorary doctorate of music from NEC.
The NEC chose to commemorate King’s legacy and contribution to the world with this bronze bust, called “Continuation of a Dream.” It was unveiled on April 24th, 2018, and designed by the artist MacLean Tiffany. It is one of Tiffany’s “Bronze Sculptures of the Human Spirit” series, on display in several institutions across the US. Read more...
Boston, MA, USA
Dedicated on June 20, 2018, in the Boston Museum of Science’s Plaza honoring the founders of the museums, Brad and Barbara Washburn.
Barbara Washburn became mountaineer after marrying Brad and was involved in many expeditions and nature exploration missions, as well as in the Science Museum work. She is known to be the first woman who climbed Denali, known as Mt. McKinley in Alaska, on June 6th, 1947.
Among the couple’s achievements are: 3 children, mapping the Grand Canyon and large areas in Alaska, as well as the establishment of the Boston Science Museum.
The statue was crafted by sculptor Robert Shure who used old photographs and accounts from Barbara’s book, “The Accidental Adventurer,” a memoir about the couple’s expeditions. Read more...
Boston, MA, USA
Mary Dyer was a Quaker who fought for religious freedom. In 1660 these beliefs were considered a crime, and she was persecuted for practicing Quakerism and eventually hanged for it.
Mary Dyer’s death influenced religious freedom legalization and the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
Her statue has stood near the Massachusetts State House entrance, not far from where she was executed, since July 9th, 1959. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts commissioned the famous Quaker artist Sylvia Shaw Judson to create it, depicting Dyer sitting peacefully on a bench wearing Quaker clothes, looking at her hands as if praying.
The inscription on the stone pedestal reads:
“MARY DYER
QUAKER
WITNESS FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
HANGED ON BOSTON COMMON 1660
MY LIFE NOT AVAILETH ME IN COMPARION TO THE LIBERTY OF THE TRUTH”
Replicas of this statue stand at the Friends Center entrance, a Quaker hub in Philadelphia, and Stout Meetinghouse at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.Nearby the Mary Dyer statue, on Massachusetts State House grounds, stands the statue of another religious freedom fighter, Anne Hutchinson. Read more...
Boston, MA, USA
Not many women in colonial America are known for their struggle for women’s rights. One exception is Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan spiritual adviser who believed in religious freedom as well as woman’s equality. Due to her unconventional beliefs she was sentenced and banished with her followers, and moved to establish the Rhode Island colony. Years later, Hutchinson became a symbol of Christian feminism.
The bronze statue of Hutchinson, sculptured by Cyrus Dallin, depicts her looking toward heaven, holding a bible in one hand and her daughter in the other one. A plaque at the front of the statue’s granite base provides a summary of her life and heroine traits. It was commissioned in 1920 by several women’s groups and installed in 1922.
Discover more about Hutchinson in a guided tour about her in Boston.
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Boston, MA, USA
The Boston Women’s Memorial is a monument dedicated to three women who challenged norms and shaped US history: Abigail Adams, the wife and advisor of President John Adams, Lucy Stone, the founder of the ‘Woman’s Journal,’ and Phillis Wheatley, the enslaved poet.
As their real-life personas, the three sculptures, made by Meredith Bergmann, are redefining conventions. Instead of standing up high on their pedestals, they use it as a prop, encouraging people to interact with them. Each statue symbolizes the life story of the woman it represents and her influence on society via the written word. The memorial was dedicated on October 25th, 2003. Read more...
Boston, MA, USA
A park commemorating the former slave, abolitionist, and one of the leading figures of the Underground Railroad – Harriet Tubman. The Harriet Tubman Square is a stop on the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail. Bronze tiles are paving the square, depicting information about the Underground Railroad. It was dedicated on June 20th, 1999.
At the park, two sculptures symbolizing the way to freedom:
The ‘Step on Board,’ also known as the ‘Harriet Tubman Memorial,’ is a 10-foot tall statue, made by Fern Cunningham, featuring Tubman leading a group of enslaved people.
On the back of the statue, there are quotations of Tubman and a diagram of the Underground Railroad route.
The second sculpture, ‘Emancipation,’ was made by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller in 1913 to memorialize the 50th anniversary of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It was cast in bronze only when it was selected to be placed at Harriet Tubman Square.
Click here to view places commemorating her legacy. Read more...
