Happy August 26th Women's Equality Day! This year Monumental Women celebrates the one year anniversary of the unveiling of our Women's Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park. As you see from the photo above, we were joined by many of New York's greatest leaders. But who could know that also attending the unveiling ceremony was the woman who will be the first woman Governor in the history of New York State. Congratulations and best wishes to Kathy Hochul! Monumental Women looks forward to working with you to move history forward in New York State.
As you will see in the articles below, despite the continuing pandemic, Monumental Women has proceeded at full speed since August 26th of 2020 to create new ways to expand the knowledge of and appreciation for the historic contributions of women. Thank you for the great response our Toolkit for Change received when we released it in March 2021 for Women's History Month. That Toolkit aimed at helping communities honor more women and people of color in their public spaces. It included topics such as incorporation, accounting, budgeting, fundraising, public relations/social media, establishing partnerships, researching and developing women's history content, creating an education campaign, and inspiring youth activism. Download the Tookit
This year, Monumental Women also explored the expansion of educational options like our Talking Statues and Put Her On A Pedestal programs. We have preserved many of the WRPM molds for history, donating some of them to the permanent collection of the New York State Museum in Albany. Our Board Members continue to enjoy speaking to groups and helping those interested in honoring women and people of color in the public spaces of their communities.
We are looking forward to this August 26th because Monumental Women has the following major announcements to share
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Monumental Women will be celebrating the August 26th holiday!... JOIN US THROUGHOUT THE DAY TO WATCH OUR VIRTUAL CELEBRATION AT monumentalwomen.org and on our Facebook page.
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MONUMENTAL WOMEN UNVEILS NEW AND VIRTUAL FIVE BOROUGH WOMEN'S RIGHTS HISTORY TRAIL
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By Brenda Berkman, Vice President for Programs
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Monumental Women is proud to unveil its virtual Five Borough New York City Women’s Rights History Trail on August 26, 2021 Women’s Equality Day! On that date check our website and you will find our map with over 150 New York City historical* women, some famous and some not well-known, linked to locations around the City where key moments in advancing women’s rights occurred. With the goal for the trail to convey the depth and breadth of the instrumental role New York City has played in advancing women’s rights, the map includes women from diverse generations, movements, occupations, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Through user-friendly short descriptions, people can learn more about women’s history and find sites throughout the City that they may have walked by without knowing anything about the important events that took place there.
To begin to create the Trail, Monumental Women invited Community Boards, historical societies, museums, neighborhood associations and women’s groups to make suggestions for women, women’s groups, and locations to be included on the Trail. MW is also establishing a Trail advisory committee of local experts to help with continuing to add women and sites to the Trail as well as help evaluate any submissions from the public (submission form on the website). In the future – with funding donations -- MW also hopes to physically mark the Trail sites and provide more information about the women and groups associated with sites through an app with narration and images. As the Trail expands, we plan to create mini-trails for particular subjects and neighborhoods.
We ask all our supporters and friends to publicize our Trail to your networks and contacts so that more people can learn about NYC women’s history and help with expanding the scope of the Trail.
*All women on the Trail are deceased.
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MONUMENTAL WOMEN PRESENTS THE FIRST ANNUAL MOVING HISTORY FORWARD AWARDS
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By Namita Luthra, Vice President for Operations
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To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument, Monumental Women will present the first ever Moving History Forward Awards to the individuals or groups who were indispensable to the creation of our statue. The first award goes to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer who has been a champion from the start when a statue of women in Central Park was just a dream. Gale Brewer is not only an elected official who truly cares about and serves her community, she is a true friend to Monumental Women. Penelope Cox from the Manhattan Borough President's Office will also receive an award for her tireless advocacy for our project. Former Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver will received a Moving History Forward Award for lifting the moratorium on new statues in Central Park. Like us, Commissioner Silver believes in the importance of representation of women and people of color in New York City’s parks and public spaces. We thank him for his support.
Monumental Women would not be where it is today without the early funding by New York Life Insurance Company whose $500,000 matching grant was the spark that lit the fuse of our fundraising appeals. In the end, Monumental Women raised $1.5 million of private funding to make the monument a reality. New York Life was there from the start and will be honored with an award to be accepted by Heather Nesle. Another Moving History Forward award goes to the firm of Beyer Blinder Belle for its invaluable work facilitating a national sculpture design competition and for providing project management and technical services for site preparation and the monument’s installation. Those from BBB receiving the awards are Richard Southwick, Susan Baggs, and Kat Monaghan. In addition, three Girl Scout Troops — 3484, 3482, and 3746— will be the recipients of Moving History Forward awards. The troop members brought joy, determination, and hard work to the fight to build a statue honoring the countless diverse women who won the vote. Back when the patch of lawn on Literary Walk was just an empty spot, Girl Scouts marched through Central Park chanting “Where are the women?” Then they set to work selling cookie box after cookie box to raise money for the statue fund. For the girls, working on this effort was their first-ever lesson in civics engagement. They have been lucky to see the process from idea to a reality that now sits 36 tons heavy and 14-feet tall on that patch of lawn under the canopy of an elm tree. One girl commented, “it looks like it’s been there all along!” And it should have been.
As we look back to thank our most steadfast supporters, we also gaze firmly toward the future and the work that lies ahead. Our two other missions — an education campaign and working with nonprofits and municipalities across the country to include more tributes to women and people of color — are both well underway as you can see from this Newsletter.
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Coming Soon: Monumental Women Merch available on our website in September. All proceeds from the sale of merchandise will support our Women's History education programs and projects.
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AHEAD IN 2022, MONUMENTAL WOMEN WILL DONATE 1/3 SIZE MODEL OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS PIONEERS MONUMENT TO NYS MUSEUM
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As you can tell from this video with Jennifer Lemack and Ashley Hopkins-Benton from the New York State Museum announcing our project, Monumental Women and the New York State Museum in Albany enjoy working together.
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Remember, JOIN US THROUGHOUT THE DAY TO WATCH OUR VIRTUAL CELEBRATION AT monumentalwomen.org and on our Facebook page.
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