Since its opening in 1857, the famous New York park has hosted around thirty statues: Christopher Columbus, William Shakespeare, Ludwig van Beethoven… but not the shadow of a woman, if we leave aside the fictional characters Alice in the country wonders or Juliet, accompanied by Romeo. A “bronze ceiling” as stressed by the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, pierced Wednesday, August 26 during a ceremony unveiling a statue over four meters high, featuring Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, three women who fought for women’s rights in the United States .
The dedication of the monument coincides, within a week, with the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting the right to vote to women. Created by artist Meredith Bergmann, the statue borders one of the park’s busiest alleys, the “Writers’ Walk”. The 25 million annual walkers in the park will be able to admire three figures of emancipation sitting around a table. Sojourner Truth, a powerful advocate for the abolition of slavery and the vote for women, who was born a slave had fled from her master’s house to become an activist dubbed by Abraham Lincoln himself. Beside her Susan B. Anthony holding a pamphlet reading “Vote for Women” and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, pen in hand are the two founders of the “National Woman Suffrage Association” who have campaigned all their lives for the law women vote in the United States.
A project with twists and turns
The statue marks the culmination of seven years of efforts, said Pam Elam, president of the board of directors of the Monumental Women association, which fights for the recognition of the role of women in history.
In 2019, the city’s public design commission retorted the first proposal by sculptor Meredith Bergmann, who represented Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton – two white women – around a desk on which a long parchment could be seen. with quotes from 22 other suffragists, including eleven of racialized women. The decision had triggered a lively controversy because of the invisibilization of black women, yet very involved in the feminist struggle.
The official statue including Sojourner Truth was accepted in August 2019. Meredith Bergmann then waged a battle against time to finish the monument on schedule for it to be inaugurated on Wednesday.
Beyond Central Park, New York City Hall has pledged to dedicate more monuments to women. Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress in 1968, should be the next beneficiary of this desire for recognition: her statue is to be completed by the end of the year and erected at the entrance to Prospect Park, the large park from Brooklyn.
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