New York's Central Park to Get First Statue Honoring Women
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 5:13 pm
Sculptor Meredith Bergmann, left, stands next to an artist's rendering of her Woman's Rights Pioneer Monument, and Coline Jenkins, who is a descendent of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, during a news conference in New York, Oct. 21, 2019.
Women will finally join men in New York's iconic Central Park after a city commission voted Monday to erect a monument depicting women.
Central Park has 23 statues honoring men who have contributed to history but none honoring real women. There are plenty of statues depicting female fantasy and fictional characters.
The monument, to be unveiled in August 2020, will feature three civil rights pioneers: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth.
The work by artist Meredith Bergmann will break what some call the "bronze ceiling'' in the 166-year-old park.
Bergmann's original design for the monument came under criticism because it only showed Anthony and Stanton. Critics pointed out that African American women also played an important role in women's suffrage in America, prompting Bergmann to redesign the statue and add Truth.