The War Between the Statues
Dear Leading Ladies,
We all know far too well that the contributions and roles of Black, brown, and AAPI people, women, and those in the LGBTQ community are underrepresented in history classes throughout the country - not just in the South, though the problem may be most egregious in some states there.
The results are that children feel invisible and less worthy, not valued or equal. They don’t see people who look like them achieving big dreams that are recognized and applauded by the general populace. The effects on mental health and well-being can be devastating. Furthermore, if you live in a system that doesn’t count you in, you may choose not to observe that system’s rules.
Outside of textbooks, there are other blatant symbols that often leave these groups out. One of these is public statues.
What’s right here?
Looking at one local community, Beverly, there seem to be three statues of humans – all men – with a couple of lions thrown in. A falconer stands near the Rose Garden in Lynch Park, a white Civil War soldier stands in Monument Square on Abbott Street, and a white Vietnam veteran sits in Ellis Square. Wouldn’t it be informative and inspiring to see statues of Juno Larcom and Lucy Larcom while strolling around Beverly? As a young girl, Juno was sold to a Beverly ship captain, Henry Herrick, in the 1730s. He gave Juno to his daughter’s family where she remained for several decades. But here’s the really interesting part: Juno sued her owners for her freedom in 1776 and gained it the next year, three years before the emancipation of all slaves in Massachusetts. Good for her!
Meanwhile, Lucy Larcom, a white woman born in Beverly in 1824 to a ship captain and his wife, was forced to work in the mills in Lowell after her father died, leaving his wife and ten children destitute. Lucy became a published poet but is best known for “A New England Girlhood,” her account of the new industrialization and the lot of mill girls. She also became a teacher and abolitionist.
The two Larcoms both have strong ties to Beverly and to the history of slavery and abolition. They probably never met, though were part of the same extended Larcom family, one by blood and one by enslavement. What a powerful statement statues in their honor would make.
And in Boston?
Looking to Boston, there are many more statues, as one might expect of a major city. Wikipedia lists 100 public statues. They include:
The Harriet Tubman Memorial (also known as Step on Board) in Harriet Tubman Park in the South End, celebrating the famous formerly enslaved Black woman who was a leader of the Underground Railroad
Indian Hunter, picturing an Indian pointing a bow and arrow at an animal and on display outside the Museum of Fine Arts
Anne Hutchinson, whose likeness is outside the State House and whom many consider an early feminist and a spiritual leader who challenged beliefs of her time
Mary Dyer, Quaker religious martyr, whose image stands outside the State House
The Boston Women’s Memorial on Commonwealth Avenue, which was created in 2003 to celebrate Phillis Wheatley, considered the first published African American poet, First Lady Abigail Adams, and abolitionist Lucy Stone
The Boston Massacre Monument on Boston Common, pictures Crispus Attucks, a freed African American and the first person to die in the Revolutionary War, and other soldiers, along with an allegorical female figure
The Army Nurses Memorial at the State House, which honors the women who served during the Civil War
The Appeal to the Great Spirit, located in front of the Museum of Fine Arts, a Native American atop a horse and looking to the heavens
The Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment, the first civic monument to pay homage to the heroism of African American soldiers during the Civil War, on Beacon Street across from the State House
A statue of African American former professional basketball player Bill Russell installed outside Boston's City Hall
And the brand new sculpture in the Public Garden, as controversial as it is, commemorates Martin and Coretta Scott King
We should mention that there used to be a statue of Abraham Lincoln (The Emancipation Group) with a formerly enslaved man at his feet. The Boston Art Commission voted to remove it in 2020 because it portrayed the African American in a subjugated position.
So, of 100 public statues, only about a dozen celebrate women and/or African Americans or Native Americans. Since women constitute a little more than half the city’s population, and African Americans make up almost a quarter of the population, we think the city and state could do a lot better in recognizing the accomplishments and contributions of all our people. What a boon to the self-esteem of our children and adults that could be! It doesn’t even take much thinking to come up with names like Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, Susan Dimock, and Dorothea Dix, all of whom spent time in Boston doing important work that deserves public recognition. There are reams of others.
A great woman arrives in Manhattan
There was some really good news in the public art realm last week when New York City unveiled a temporary installation. Atop a courthouse near Madison Square Park, where only statues of men have adorned the roof forevah, a woman has now joined the ranks of the historical and religious male figures. She is part of an exhibit called “Havah…to breathe, air, life,” created by artist Shahzia Skiander. The figure on the roof conveys women as the “foundation of our society” and “champions for freedom, equal rights and justice," according to Justice Dianne T. Renwick, who was chair of the court’s committee that led the effort to bring the exhibit to the park and courthouse. In a nod to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the figure on the roof wears a delicate-looking lace collar, as she often did over her robes. Inside the park is a second piece called “Witness,” an 18-foot tall female figure with a large hoop skirt that mimics the stained glass ceiling dome of the courthouse. "For the first time since the Court’s historic opening well over 100 years ago, the figure of a woman finally and rightfully will stand on equal footing with the male philosophers and lawgivers who line the other pedestals,” Renwick told Timeout. “This type of collaboration is unprecedented in New York State and we are very excited about this endeavor and the possibilities for other courts."
The exhibit lasts until June 4, when it moves to Houston. That’s nice, but don’t women deserve a permanent place among the men?!?!?!?!?
What can we do?
Back to our local haunts, we encourage everyone to do an inventory of the public art in your communities and look into the people of long ago or recent history who might offer a fuller picture of the population. Endicott College Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Matelski, who is researching the life of Robin Mingo, an enslaved man who lived in Beverly, recently said that public art “can highlight both the little-known and the important stories of a neighborhood. It can revitalize a community and bring civic pride to that place. And best of all, because it’s public, it’s free to everyone.”
We know that the efforts to take down statues in the South that celebrate the Confederacy and those who wanted to protect slavery will be an ongoing battle for many years. And it is one worth fighting. But there is work to be done on our own turf as we recognize and commit to utilizing the potential of public art to project messages of inclusion, diversity, and equity.
We want everyone to see heroes who look like themselves.
Therese (she/her/hers)
Judy (she/her/hers)
Didi (she/her/hers)
Mackenzie (she/her/hers)
Leadingladiesvote.org
ladies@leadingladiesvote.org