The statue of Mary McLeod Bethune, a civil rights activist and presidential adviser, substitutes one that showed a Confederate general that was taken down in 2021 after former Gov. Rick Scott of Florida passed a law to take it down in 2018. The statue of Bethune is the first of several to replace Confederate statues, as Virginia is set to remove its statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
”Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s statue stands today as a monument to her incredible legacy. Fittingly for this Renaissance woman, it was made from marble from the same quarry Michaelangelo used to make the David statue,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was in attendance. “It's a great addition to the National Statuary Hall collection.”
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The statue was revealed during a ceremony on Wednesday, with McCarthy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Reps. Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Val Demings (D-FL) in attendance.
"We lift her up today at a time of competing ideologies to help heal and unify through her example, because she also lived at a time of division but was determined to stand up to dissenting voices, including the Ku Klux Klan, to do what many said could not be done," Castor said, adding that she hopes Bethune's statue will serve as a symbol of hope, justice and love for America and all humankind.
The 11-foot statue, which weighs more than 6,000 lbs., was sculpted out of the largest (and last) piece of statuary marble from Michelangelo's quarry in Italy. It was created by artist Nilda Comas, who was chosen from a field of 1,600 applicants and is the first Hispanic master sculptor to create a statue for the National Statuary Hall State Collection.
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With a subject and sculptor secured, the creation of the actual statue involved significant fundraising and research efforts.
The Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Fund has spent years raising private funds for a marble statue for the Capitol, as well as another statue for a local park, a feature-length documentary and a K-12 curriculum module.
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Fund President Nancy Lohman said at the ceremony that nearly 500 donors and other advocates had taken part in the effort over four years.
It's a historic addition to the famous collection, one that followed a lengthy process and will likely not be the last such swap.
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Each state can send two statues of selected citizens to represent itself in the U.S. Capitol, with the option to replace existing statues with new ones if they so choose. Some states have replaced their statues, but Bethune’s is the first to depict a black person.
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