New York Today: A Need for More Statues of Women

Without hesitation I say number one - Shirley Chisholm who is a glowing example of accomplishment intelligence, integrity and humanity! First to Congress and first became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Her book “Unbought and Unbossed” a title few could claim says it all. Number 2 Bella Abzug! Great woman! Great congresswoman! As a young teen I knew they were great, really great and heroic! I love them both!

There is a Lillian D. Wald Playground, with a small plaque, but there should be a statue of this great and influential Progressive Era humanitarian reformer, and the playground named in her honor would be a perfect place for one. A statue of Jane Jacobs, perhaps in Washington Square Park, would be a most fitting tribute to the activist who took on Robert Moses and led the fight to defeat three diabolical schemes that would have done incalculable harm to Lower Manhattan.

DOCTOR & INTERNATIONAL STAR Josephine Baker surely deserves A prominent statue and hosannas, But let's not forget her other talents, Singing and dancing with bananas.

First up, how about Rosalind Franklin? Never heard of her, eh? Without her, Watson and Crick may not have figured out the structure of the DNA molecule. Or at least, it would have taken a whole lot longer. Oh, and THEY got a Nobel Prize. Rosalind? No where to be seen.

I nominate Annie Edson Taylor, the first woman to go over Niagra Falls in a barrel. She also had the honor of being a victim of Jesse James!

Jane Jacobs!

Women have made so many contributions to NY and this country, but yet have been forgotten about. Lillian Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement; Clara Driscoll - one of a group of talented women who designed Tiffany lamps and other items by Tiffany; and Francis Perkins who was the first women appointed a cabinet member (Department of Labor - served for 12 years) by FDR and she lobbied for and helped adopt social security, unemployment insurance, better working hours and conditions, child labor laws. The list goes on and on. Get rid of Fearless Girl. It's ugly and stupid.

Is this an opinion piece or a summary of Metro-area news? Both? It doesn't strike me as a step in a positive direction to include substantive value judgments, strategically couched in language about what unspecified people think, in factual writing and speaking. This is the same tactic the President uses: "everybody says that the Wall must be built!" Who are "the many New Yorkers"? Were interviews conducted? When? Were those interviews about the removal of the J.Marion Sims statue? If not, what was the context? I expect the NYTimes to set a higher standard.

-- I was not one of the "many" New Yorkers to celebrate a statue of a girl confronting the Wall Street bull statue. It's infantilizing and somewhat silly. Why are artists, in this case, a woman, incapable of regarding women as adults with agency (although I'm not sure the figure should have been a human being in the first place)? I also didn't care for how the artist described her models: a child she knew, and a "Latina." The "child's" ethnicity goes unmentioned because she's white. When are whites going to accept that they are not the default while everyone else is a colorful minority? -- I can't believe that the Commissioner of Transportation thinks that e-bikes are going to be good for the East River bridges. Clearly, she doesn't walk across them very often. The cyclists are reckless. Unless there is a separate, closed-off lane for bikers, the appearance of e-bikes will gravely increase the danger for pedestrians. -- Once again, I have to say that the Times's support of Mayor de Blasio's proposal to change the admissions process for the specialized high schools is completely wrong-headed, like 2003-era non-existent weapons of mass destruction wrong. It does not address the underlying problems, will lower the level of the schools, and punishes the students who commit to studying for the test. It will also change the composition of middle schools, as students switch to less-competitive schools in order be in a qualifying percentile.

Test!!!!!!!!

Shirley Chisolm Florence Kennedy Ruth Gruber Bella Abzug

While I can think of many notable women to nominate, with the way things are now, I really need some laughter. How about Roz Chast? Her cartoons in the New Yorker tickle me every time, and she really gets all us kooky people living here. She's a treasure.

This country does not erect statues and monuments to Black people, but they’ve put up many thousands of colossal statues to mostly evil white men. Now they’ve removed a statue of an evil man because he experimented on, tortured, and dehumanized Black women yet this article, along with many commenters, are proposing replacing it with a statute of a white woman. How about a statue of a Black woman physician? Better yet, a statue of a Black woman as symbol of all the Black women tortured and terrorized by this man?

Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Grand Central would not still be standing without her efforts and lobbying. She went on to help preserve many other landmark buildings and helped shed much needed light on the importance of preservation. In a letter to Mayor Beame, she wrote: Dear Mayor Beame…is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud moments, until there is nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children? If they are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to fight for her future?

I am surprised to see so much anti-statue sentiment here. I am reminded of the statue of Mary Dyer in front of the Massachusetts State House. Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for being a Quaker, obviously before this country was founded. To stand before that simple masterpiece is to be filled with appropriate horror over religious persecution and to make a deep commitment to fight it at every turn. Maybe that’s why I decided to keep my license to practice law active when Trump proposed his first travel ban. Statues can be very powerful. I love this idea.

Here, here. In the town square of Eunice, Louisiana...in the heart of 'Cajun country', in the deep, rural South...stands a bronze monument to the towns founder. MISS EUNICE! IN her prim and proper pose, standing tall wearing a to-the-floor and to-the-neck dress. She is still loved, revered, and honored by her community. We need to do the same. NYC could start right here in Brooklyn with a monument to the honorable Ms. Shirley Chisholm.

How about putting the statues on the back burner and passing the ERA so women will be entitled to equal pay and giving them guaranteed control over their own bodies?

The patriarchy of our society is, yes, on the wane. And not a moment too soon. Just look around us. Don't worry about new statues depicting women of note in our culture. Usa make sure that women sculptors are given the opportunities men artists are given. Make sure you break that stranglehold on the glass ceiling!and while you're at it, pay us all the same wage and make it one that will allow us to pay for housing and clothe and feed our children.

We don’t need statues of anyone, they are a waste of money.

You overlook the fact that the two largest statues in NYC are both of women: the Statue of Liberty (the picture of which you show in the article) and Civic Fame (I think I'm recalling its name correctly) atop the Municipal Building. Even the one of George Washington at Federal Hall looks puny in comparison.

There are many, many heroic women who should be memorialized in the form of statues. Hillary Clinton is my first choice, as she has done more for the advancement of women than anyone in our American history. The statue should at least be of the same size, and project the same majesty as that of George Washington at Federal Hall. In fact, Hillary's statue should be erected on Wall Street as well.

No we don't need more statues of women. We need more statues of qualified famous people who advanced society including women. If you play the identity card, you end up with discriminating against men and promoting unqualified women. One of the last times we did that in the 1970s when we played the race card after great strides were made in equal rights re minorities, we ended up with almost the destruction of NYC by treating minorities as helpless, forever flawed people needed to be kept on the dole forever. Don't do the same with women.

A statue of Elizabeth Jennings, please! This African-American teacher was physically forced off a whites-only streetcar in 1854. She sued the streetcar company and won--100 years before Rosa Parks made a similar stand. Jennings' strength and persistence helped lead to the integration of New York City public transit.

From today’s “And Finally” section: The Bronx-born director of films including “Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “A Clockwork Orange”… tune of “Singin’ in the Rain” (but think of the Gene Kelly version, NOT the Malcolm McDowell rendition from Stanley Kubrick’s ”Clockwork Orange,” okay?) She’s bringing in relief, she’s bringing in relief Mother Nature is singing: An end to the grief! Though Friday’s still warm, with fears of a storm The weekend means lows that are under the norm All that heat made us sigh Made us hate this July. Come on with that break Bid the heat wave bye-bye! Let’s hope it’s not brief, but you won’t hear us beef To bringing in a chance of some relief.

How about fewer statues of everyone, and if so motivated, spend the money on the person's favorite charity? Charitable donations are also a monument of respect and less likely to cause a statue meltdown when the future generations of the politically correct find fault with our present so-called heroes, both women and men.

Dr. Sims, like all medical pioneers, "experimented" on patients. In fact, he cured his patients' fistulas, performing a surgery that had been invented in Boston very little earlier. By all means erect a statue to a woman -- but the removal of Dr. Sims's statue is less a matter of principle than of politics. As for Flatbush's being named "Little Haiti": The map provided incorporates parts of Flatbush in which Haitians are not the dominant group. As to that, Flatbush Avenue was cleaner and quieter when I was a kid; when people of all colors stood on long lines to purchase movie tickets at theaters that were palaces, bought pastries at French bakeries, and walked along a Flatbush Avenue that was safe and free of litter and loudspeakers blasting from storefronts. Naming Flatbush "Little Haiti," long-awaited dream of politico Rodneyse Bishotte, smacks of the same pandering and identity politics as Bill de Blasio's wanting to scrap the democratic, merit-based test for schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science so that their populations will look more like the demographics of New York City. It's not just Chinese kids who pass that test; kids from Africa, India, Pakistan, the Caucusas, and other areas pass that test. They are poor, their parents very well might not speak English, but they manage. They work. And they are our demographics too. Saying that the tests discriminate is like saying that speed cameras target people of color. Yes, I've heard that said. Ridiculous.

We need a statue of Bella Abzug. A distinctly New York fighter for her constituents, never backed down, never tainted with allegations of corruption. A strong woman when the women's movement was in its early stages.