Mary McLeod Bethune | |
---|---|
Artist | Nilda M. Comas |
Year | 2022 |
Medium | Marble sculpture |
Subject | Mary McLeod Bethune |
Dimensions | (11 feet (including pedestal) in) |
Weight | 6,129 lbs |
Location | Washington, D.C., United States |
The statue honoring civil rights and women's rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune was unveiled in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., representing Florida in the National Statuary Hall Collection on July 13, 2022. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] This makes her the first black American represented in the National Statuary Hall Collection. [6]
The statue is made of Italian Carrara marble and was carved by Nilda M. Comas in Pietrasanta, Italy. [1]
The statue replaced Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith's statue in the Florida collection.
The National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the Rotunda. The meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857), after a few years of disuse in 1864 it was repurposed as a statuary hall; this is when the National Statuary Hall Collection was established. By 1933, the collection had outgrown this single room, and a number of statues are placed elsewhere within the Capitol.
Bethune–Cookman University is a private historically black university in Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune–Cookman University is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The primary administration building, White Hall, and the Mary McLeod Bethune Home are two historic locations.
The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old Hall of the House of Representatives, which was then renamed National Statuary Hall. The expanding collection has since been spread throughout the Capitol and its Visitor's Center.
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established the organization's flagship journal Aframerican Women's Journal, and presided as president or leader for a myriad of African American women's organizations including the National Association for Colored Women and the National Youth Administration's Negro Division.
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Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial is a bronze statue honoring educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune, by Robert Berks.
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The National Statuary Hall Collection holds statues donated by each of the United States, portraying notable persons in the histories of the respective states. Displayed in the National Statuary Hall and other parts of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., the collection includes two statues from each state, except for Virginia which currently has one, making a total of 99.
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Equal Visibility Everywhere, also known as EVE, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Miami, Florida. EVE was founded in 2010 by the psychologist and former college professor Lynette Long, with the mission "to achieve gender parity in the monuments, symbols, and icons, of the United States." Its ongoing projects include adding more statues of women to the National Statuary Hall Collection, creating new historical markers honoring America's heroes, adding images of women to America's paper currency and coins, increasing the number of women honored on stamps and Google Doodles, and increasing the number of female character balloons in parades.
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