Barney Circle in Southeast Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Adelaide Johnson
Adelaide Johnson was born in 1859 into a farming family in Plymouth, Illinois. As a youth, she attended the St. Louis School of Design. She eventually moved to Chicago to work as an artist, where she struggled to sustain herself. An elevator shaft accident in 1882 led to a $15,000 settlement that enabled her to move to Europe to study sculpture.
She crafted many beautiful works, her most famous being the Portrait Monument displayed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. It depicts leaders of the suffragette movement, Susan B. Anthony, Elisabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott. While many criticized her seemingly unfinished sculpture, she left the sculpture incomplete to reflect how women's equality was unfinished.
In 1896, she married Frederick Jenkins, 11 years her junior, who, breaking with convention, took her last name as "the tribute love pays to genius." Her bridesmaids were busts of fellow suffragettes and, most scandalous of all, the ceremony was officiated by a woman minister. In her later years, she was unable to work due to her advanced age and she died penniless in 1955.
Died: November 10, 1955
Topics.
this page online
Location. 38° 52.887′ N, 76° 58.746′ W. Marker is in Southeast Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in Barney Circle. It can be reached from the intersection of E Street Southeast and Potomac Avenue Southeast, on the right when traveling east. The marker stands on the grounds of Congressional Cemetery. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1631 G St SE, Washington DC 20003, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American Northeast, in the Upper South, in the Mid-Atlantic, in the Tidewater, and in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Lee Dittman Shapiro 1949-1987 / James T. Lindelof 1957-1987 (within shouting distance of this marker); The Mathew Brady Memorial (within
Credits. This page was last revised on February 7, 2025. It was originally submitted on February 7, 2025, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 141 times since then and 8 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on February 7, 2025, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
