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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Central Park West Historic District in Manhattan in New York County, New York — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
 

Women's Rights Pioneers Monument

 
 
Women's Rights Pioneers Monument image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Craig Baker, May 27, 2022
1. Women's Rights Pioneers Monument
Inscription.

Women's Rights Pioneers
Sojourner Truth
Susan B. Anthony
Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Donated by Monumental Women to the City of New York to honor Women's History.
Dedicated on August 26, 2020, 100th Anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th "Votes for Women" Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Monumental Women
Monumental Women, a volunteer nonprofit organization, formed in 2014 to create the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument. The sculptural tableau is the first in Central Park to depict real women. After securing a prominent location on the Park's famed Literary Walk in 2017, Monumental Women raised $1.5 million in private funding to commission and endow the sculpture, designed by nationally recognized sculptor Meredith Bergmann.

The prolonged effort by women to gain the right to vote is considered the largest nonviolent revolution in the history of this nation, finally enfranchising more than half of the population of the United States. This monument is an instant history lesson, an examination of how social change comes about. As it teaches us about the past, we can learn to do a better job of fighting for equality and justice in the future. This monument challenges municipalities all across this nation and this world to honor all the people
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who made those cities great by including tributes to women and people of color in their public spaces. But most of all, it's about advancing history — completing the journeys toward justice of the valiant women who came before us and achieving the equality that they were denied.

The timing of the arrival of this monument coincided with the National Woman Suffrage Centennial of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Susan B. Anthony, both celebrated in 2020. To learn more about Monumental Women, visit their website: monumentalwomen.org

The Sculptor: Meredith Bergmann
Bergmann uses some of the stylistic vocabulary of the existing statuary nearby on Literary Walk so that the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument will speak to and harmoniously coexist with the Park's historical art collection. In her design, as throughout the Park, recognizable bronze figures sit and stand on a granite pedestal with inscriptions. But within this structure, the design departs from the other monuments in ways that are appropriate to the entry of women into a sphere from which they were previously excluded. Three figures (instead of one) share a pedestal and relate to each other. They are an allegory of sisterhood, cooperation and activism but they are not just an allegory, as so many sculptures of women are.

In
Women's Rights Pioneers image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Larry Gertner, August 26, 2020
2. Women's Rights Pioneers
Dedication inscription on the base's back face
the monument, Bergmann shows Anthony, Stanton and Truth working together to advance the fight for equality, justice, and women's rights. They are depicted as equals, working together at a table, with each taking on an essential element of activism: Sojourner Truth is speaking, Susan B. Anthony is organizing, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton is writing. The Women's Rights Pioneers Monument honors three New York women who dedicated their lives to women's rights and to women winning the franchise, though none of them lived long enough to see it happen.

Hear This Monument Talk
Narrated by Viola Davis, Jane Alexander and Meryl Streep in English, and Zoe Saldana, America Ferrera and Rita Moreno in Spanish. Short documentaries and an interview with the sculptor can also be accessed.
Select One to Listen
Scan QR code, visit talkingstatues.com or download the Talking Statues app at nyts.de/mw

# Monumental Women
Monumental Women wishes to acknowledge Board President Pam Elam, sculptor Meredith Bergmann and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and to thank those whose support has made the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument possible, including: New York Life Insurance Company • American Express Foundation • Ford Foundation • The Johnnie Walker Company • Acton Family Giving • Donald C. Brace Foundation • Brenda Berkman
Women's Rights Pioneers Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Craig Baker, May 27, 2022
3. Women's Rights Pioneers Marker
• JP Morgan Chase • Anne Delaney • Old Navy • The Puffin Foundation • Wege Foundation • and over 1,000 individual donors.
 
Erected 2020 by Monumental Women.
 
Topics. This historical marker and monument is listed in these topic lists: Civil RightsParks & Recreational AreasWomen. A significant historical date for this entry is August 26, 1920.
 
Location. 40° 46.243′ N, 73° 58.338′ W. Marker is in Manhattan, New York, in New York County. It is in the Central Park West Historic District. Marker can be reached from The Mall north of 66th Street. Located in Central Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: New York NY 10019, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. William John Liebig (a few steps from this marker); Robert Burns Statue (within shouting distance of this marker); Sir Walter Scott (within shouting distance of this marker); William Shakespeare (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Columbus (about 300 feet away); Balto (about 500 feet away); Welcome to the Dene Slope (about 500 feet away); 307th Infantry AEF (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Manhattan.
 
Also see . . .
1. #Monumental Women: The First Statue of Real Women in Central Park. Lilith website entry (Submitted on January 1, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.) 

2. Women's Rights Pioneers Monument
Dedication Day - after the ceremony image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Larry Gertner, August 26, 2020
4. Dedication Day - after the ceremony
. NYC Parks website entry (Submitted on January 1, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.) 
 
Find out more... image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Larry Gertner, August 26, 2020
5. Find out more...
Temporary sign - before installation of the interpretive sign.
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on December 18, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 1, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. This page has been viewed 194 times since then and 18 times this year. Photos:   1. submitted on June 28, 2022, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California.   2. submitted on January 1, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.   3. submitted on June 28, 2022, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California.   4, 5. submitted on January 1, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.
 
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Mar. 29, 2024