New York's Central Park to Gain Statue of Women in History

 

New York City will finally honor real women with a statue in its famous Central Park. City officials voted this week for the creation of a statue of three female civil rights leaders. Central Park has 23 statues of men who were important in history, but none of women.

In fact, females are represented only by statues of imaginary characters. These include a statue of Alice, the hero of Alice in Wonderland books by 19th century British writer Lewis Carroll.

The new statue from artist Meredith Bergmann is to be uncovered next August. Visitors will see the representation of past activists¹ Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner² Truth.

The three women were contemporaries and leaders in the anti-slavery, women’s rights and anti-alcohol movements. Their activism helped to secure the right of women to vote in 1920.

Pam Elam is president of the non-profit organization Monumental Women. It worked with historians, community leaders and local officials in support of the statue. Elam said the artwork shows "the power of women working together to bring about revolutionary change in our society." The group privately³ raised $1.5 million to create and care for the new statue and a linked educational program.

Bergmann's early design for the statue included only Anthony and Stanton. Observers criticized its lack of African-American representation, noting that women of that group were also important to the fight for women’s suffrage⁴. So, Bergmann redesigned the statue to add Truth.

Central Park is not the only area of New York limited in statues representing historical women. In fact, the government group She Built NYC says the large city of five boroughs⁶ has just five public statues of women from history.

A 2016 news story in the magazine Smithsonian.com reported that women were the subject of only about seven percent of public statues in the United States that depict⁷ real people.

I’m Caty Weaver⁸.

Words in This Story

character –n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie or television show that is not real

contemporary –n. someone who lives during the same period in history as someone else

suffrage –n. the right to vote in an election

borough⁵ –n. a village, town or part of a city that has its own government

depict –v. to show someone or something through some art form: as in writing, painting or sculpture

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sojourner   

n.旅居者，寄居者

参考例句：

• The sojourner has been in Wales for two weeks. 那个寄居者在威尔士已经逗留了两个星期。 来自互联网
• A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it. 出12:45寄居的、和雇工人、都不可吃。 来自互联网

3 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

4 suffrage   

n.投票，选举权，参政权

参考例句：

• The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance.妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。
• The voters gave their suffrage to him.投票人都投票选他。

5 borough   

n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇

参考例句：

• He was slated for borough president.他被提名做自治区主席。
• That's what happened to Harry Barritt of London's Bromley borough.住在伦敦的布罗姆利自治市的哈里.巴里特就经历了此事。

6 boroughs   

（尤指大伦敦的）行政区( borough的名词复数 )； 议会中有代表的市镇

参考例句：

• London is made up of 32 boroughs. 伦敦由三十二个行政区组成。
• Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City. 布鲁克林区是纽约市的五个行政区之一。

7 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

8 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。