I'd like to suggest Nellie Bly, a daring female journalist based in New York. In the late 19th century she investigated the female asylum on Blackwell's Island and probed abuses of working women in several fields. She also raced around the world in 72 days, reporting on her travels.
20
In addition to statues, why not a museum?
15
How about a statue remembering all of the women who stayed up nights working hard to clean all the office buildings and got up early to clean the hotel rooms and sat for hours in the hot, stolid, windowless core of the Big Apple selling subway tokens and, eventually, driving the trains?
16
Each and every women on that list deserves statuary...and a longer list to follow!
14
Ten are not enough, but here my list, not in any order: Shirley Chisholm, Frances Perkins, Jane Jacobs, Rosalyn Yalow, Margaret Sanger, Sojourner Truth, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Day, Chien-Shiung Wu, and, last, but not least, Eleanor Roosevelt.
All of them did amazing things, all show the diversity of New York City, and may inspire future generations. I noticed one major omission in my and most other lists here; in my case, it is due to my own ignorance. So, can anybody nominate at least one Latina New Yorker and give a few biographical details? Thanks! I must say I am somewhat embarassed by my lack of knowledge on that aspect of NYC history.
7
I must admit aside from Frances Perkins and Beverly Sills I was not aware of the rest of these women. All interesting Women. Thank You for bringing us the knowledge of these women. Why Not erect Statures of any of these Women if not all of them? Too many have gone unmentioned for too long.
6
How about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis? Known for her work on behalf of preserving historic sites in New York City, her statue should be right next to the reservoir in Central Park that bears her name.
10
How about Roz Yalow who was, only the third woman other than (Marie Curie, Gerty Cori) to have won the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
12
Nora Ephron! And put it right in front of Katz’s.
12
Unfortunately, our public monuments at present reflect the views of a few privileged individuals, instead of the views of the diverse communities into which they are placed. That's why I decided to create The Monument Project, in collaboration with the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, with support from Microsoft. Called 'an important work' by the Ford Foundation, The Monument Project seeks to democratize the practice of memorialization by allowing all members of the community to participate and their individual voices to be heard.
8
If anyone deserves a statue, man or woman, it would be Frances Perkins. The majority of her views and what she did for the people of this country, having FDR's ear, being the force behind most of the New Deal, were laudable. It is a shame that such an important figure in our history is not mentioned in many of our schools' history books, and like Alice Paul (one of the first people to use passive resistance), is unknown to our population.
22
One of our great city's great shames is that our statues, among history's most important public art installations and means of honoring people of achievement, have overlooked generations of contributions by women, but the lack of monuments for so many of them also presents an opportunity to create something truly grand.
Why don't we choose a green space, centrally located, (Madison Square, Bryant Park, Central Park ... ) and create a memorial analogous to the "Literary Walk", where these great women, and others to come, would all be recognized together, each with their own statue, larger than life, set along a winding, landscaped path, in a chronology of achievements? It would have quite an impact, and become a place where we could walk with our daughters, our nieces, our granddaughters and students, to teach and inspire.
However it's realized, I will surely be among those to contribute to any crowdfunding to see that these women are recognized in a manner worthy of their spirit.
24
I don't mean to rain on this parade but if you are going to put up more statues of women, at least use subjects that folks have heard of. The likes of Clara Barton who founded the American Red Cross as a testament to nurses (she was also a teacher & patent clerk). Others could include Susan B Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Hutchinson, Margaret Sanger, etc. These were women who truly changed history. Although Alice Austen is a good one from the list proposed. Regardless, it is good to discuss the value and role of historical women. They have certainly been under publicized in a man's world for many decades.
6
@Mike L
I understand where you are coming from, however that is why we need more statues of women like Frances Perkins. These are woman who did as much, if not more, for our country, and yet many do not know their names or accomplishments. I'm sure you know that Gandhi is famous for passive resistance, but did you know at the very same time Alice Paul was using passive resistance to gain the vote for women? Did you know that Frances Perkins refused to take the job as Secretary of Labor, unless FDR was willing to support her programs, may of which brought us out of the depression? Did you know that she was the first female cabinet secretary and had to navigate in a world where men looked down on her, sitting at the wives table rather than the cabinet table at functions? There are numerous other women I can mention, including, Virginia Apgar, Daisy Gatson Bates, Lucy Stone and Grace Hopper among others whose names should be as familiar as Clara Barton. That is why we need more of these statues and a Smithsonian museum dedicated to women like one that is dedicated to Black Americans.
15
Thank you for the illuminating article. I’d like to see a statue of Berenice Abbott gracing Gotham.
6
More recognition for nurses and teachers, predominantly female professions who serve the public for many years. Where is the 'thank you for your service'?
6
Thank you for this. Glad you suggested Perkins and Hurston. Both also had complex lives that touched on many other issues. In addition to her groundbreaking work on social issues, Perkins had a complicated personal life which she handled with aplomb, and in many ways might be a good example of how people in the LGBTQ community in the early part of the 20th century handled the world they were faced with. Hurston was brilliant, gifted and insightful; her contributions never valued, and died in somewhat obscurity. I believe her relationship with Fanny Hurst inspired some of "Imitation of Life," which as dated as it is now, was at the time a relatively modern take on an equal relationship between women of different races -- again, horribly out of date, but at that time, a sliver of decency.
4
oops. It's "Fannie". Currently not too popular a name. @David Law
Another noteworthy woman was Hetty Green, more popularly demonized as the Witch of Wall Street. Hetty had many eccentricities for sure, but she was a titan of finance at a time when women were denied full participation in business ventures involving high finance. Hetty usually was a source of debt financing, and bailed out New York City more than once. She was also wily, moving around frequently to avoid having an established tax domicile.
Hetty Green died in 1916, and it is estimated she was worth between $100 million and $200 million in 1916 dollars at the time of her death. For a woman at that time to have the ability to amass such a fortune is truly remarkable.
11
A great list and wonderful to read, thanks particularly for the steer to Alice Austen, off to research her more.
Perhaps good to consider what artistic response would be interesting here, is figurative sculpture appropriate to our time, is it bound up with existing patriarchal structures? Might there be alternatives which women artists, architects, urban planners could propose which is more dynamic, inventive and exciting?
6
I rather like Isabella Goodwin, I had never heard of her. Learn something new every day!
Also, Alice Austin seems very interesting.
The entire list is good. Enjoyed reading about everyone. Thanks.
8
I’m partial to my Grandma, who was born and bred and educated (a graduate degree when most women didn’t even go to college!) and died in NYC. She birthed and raised 5 children in the city while also running a successful business that helped countless New Yorkers maintain good health. Then she helped raise some NY grandkids. All this as a child of poor immigrants to the US.
So, how about a statue honoring all the great, generous, life-sustaining Grandmothers, Nonas, Grannies, Bubbies, Abueals, Savtas, Yayas, Zumus, Ayatochi, Lolas, Daydis, etc. on whose shoulders we have stood and risen and been blessed!
13
@Bubbe’s Kid and Baba's!
Bess Myerson!
3
Emma Lazarus!
13
She already has a poem at the Statue of Liberty.
No entertainers? C’mon!!
1
Here is my list: Leonora O’Reilly, Clara Lemlich, Rose Schneiderman, Floria Pickney, Emma Goldman, Fannia Cohn, Pauline Newman. If you never heard of any of these remarkable women, all the more reason for a statue to keep their memory alive.
10
Emma Goldman for sure!
4
The first person in a wheelchair fans the first such woman) to teach in the NYC schools was Judith Heumann, who later served in senior roles under Clinton and Obama. She is also the first-ever Presidential Special Advisor on International Disability Rights. Her life-long work benefits not just all in NYC, but all Americans and hundreds of millions of people with disabilities around the world. She’s definitely a hero to my family.
7
How about any one - or more - of the great women whose lives are archived by the Jewish Women’s Archive, right here in NYC? https://jwa.org/
3
Not now, but when she’s (sadly) gone, how about Washington Heights’ own Dr. Ruth Westheimer?
Through her radio shows, publications and other appearances, she taught me and countless others how enjoy our sexuality and to avoid unwanted pregnancy and that sexual feelings and expression is a normal and healthful part of human life.
5
Also, The Guerrilla Girls and the Women’s Action Coalition (WAC). NYC’s and our nation’s art scenes and museums would be very different without them!
9
How about the first female mayor of NYC?
Oh, wait, there hasn’t been one...
9
If not for the unfortunate rule about the woman having to be dead, I would nominate the great Judy Heumann ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Heumann), disability civil rights icon who got her start as a young woman with a disability trying to get a job with the NYC public school system.
Her steadfast work advocating for and helping draft civil rights laws that protect tens of millions of kids and adults with disabilities and their families has benefitted New Yorkers and nearly every aspect of city life itself.
How about the NYT keeps a record of all the suggestions of living women, so that, when the unfortunate time comes, it can not only run a proper obituary but also suggest the city commission a statue commemorating their good work?
2
I vote for Frances Perkins Frances Perkins and Frances Perkins.
6
Definitely add Judy Heumann to the list!
As a top leader of the American and international disability civil rights movement and a high-ranking official in the Clinton administration, she improved the daily lives of so many individuals and families — with or without disabilities — and our communities and nation.
And Judy got her start fighting for her own civil right to serve NY as a public school teacher with a disability!
3
Audre Lorde
7
@A Yes, I second that!
1
And what gives Ms Bellafante the (white?) privilege to decide who gets something as culturally important as a public statue? Her sense of self-importance evidently knows no bounds. Let the City Council, in consultation with other professionals, decide.
1
@John She wrote the article; the suggestions are from NYT readers.
5
Noo Yawk, NooYawk, I guess women activists existed no where else but NooYawk. The nominators seemed to be not aware of any other parts of the USA
1
No, it’s because the criteria set out by the original request for suggestions limit them to women who lived or worked in NYC
8
How about getting a tad more contemporary? I propose a statue of Melania Trump, our proud beautiful intelligent first lady. I know she is not an old liberal democrat like most of these nominees but she is a NYer and our first lady. Lets honor her.
3
@Steve Be Best! A grammatical luminary.
7
@Steve You're kidding? Right?
11
NYer? Really? Certainly not a Queens accent.
3
Eleanor Roosevelt
And, yes, Wald and Sanger
4
What about the Dutch women of New Amsterdam?
4
You know who deserves a statue? No one. In it’s place how about some art.
Wheres Margaret Sanger fellas...…...Florence Nightingale.....
fighting for womans reproduction rights with Planned Parenthood...….although we seem to be having a repeat with our current administration of Bivbile Belt Mentality...Euarope has long been progressive in such matters...….
5
I hope the City commissions our very many women artists to design and make the statues.
7
Bette Midler, preferably wearing a grass skirt and strategically placed coconuts, high atop Bethesda Fountain in Central Park (or something equally understated).
12
A wonderful and timely article! Next do a list of the 10 Greatest Rock Songs, America's 10-Best Pizzas, and NYC's Bagel Hall of Fame.
1
No one deserves a statue more than Ethel Merman, smack in the middle of Times Square, behind the TKTS concession, and facing George M. Cohan; to include a recorded musical loop of her biggest hits, "I've Got Rhythm,"There's No Business like Show Business" and, of course, "Everything's Coming Up Roses." She, as much as anyone, personified the identification of Broadway as the capitol of entertainment worldwide. Her big, brassy belt tootling over Times Square will delight the crowds in line to purchase tickets to see her descendants.
20
@Alex. Absolutely! If Broadway is New York, what woman could be more representative than Ethel Merman?
5
@Alex I think the local fire company should replace their sirens with Merman bellowing..."There's no business like no business, like no business I know..."
6
Elizabeth Ann Seton.
7
Yes! That’s exactly who I first thought of!
1
Great piece!!!! In total agreement. I vote for Chisolm, Sanger, and Wald!!!
Great article - thanks for reaching out to us NYers in the first place and then writing a great piece based on our responses.
5
I vote for Shirley Chisolm and Dorothy Day.
1
Who picked these 10 women, and what criteria were used in selecting the women listed here?
Born in New York?
Lived in New York?
Made major accomplishments while living /working in New York?
Born before or after a certain date?
Of a certain ethnic or religious group or sexual preference?
If the City of New York is undertaking a similar process on a much larger scale, why not wait until the results are in from that effort? One hopes they (whoever they is) will base their ratings/decisions on a much larger and more representative sample than the 400 replies on which this article is based.
Crowdsourcing is a quick way to get (usually) unrepresentative feedback, reduces the amount of time reporters need to spend carrying out journalism, and ultimately reduces the number of reporters required to support a newspaper.
Don't look now, reporters, your jobs are being outsourced to the crowd.
4
@Mon Ray
The criteria for selection was in the previous run-up article to this one many weeks ago: a female New Yorker who influenced this city in some way, who's contributions are still being seen, not living. So, no, "reporters jobs are not being outsourced to the crowd."
8
@John Galt The run-up article contained a survey form for readers to suggest statue candidates; this is what I mean about crowd-sourcing, which is journalism-lite and reduces the need for real reporters and real reporting.
Jane Jacobs. One in every borough!
7
Love this piece! Thanks, Ginia, and thanks to everyone who's suggested other women. Thinking about all of these wonderful people has been fun and eye opening! As a public health worker, I'm partial to Lillian Wald myself (https://bit.ly/2LVuxMc), but am definitely energized by this NYC initiative and Ms. Bellafante's article.
5
Edith Wilson, who ran the United States of America after her husband Woodrow Wilson's stroke.
3
I choose Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She was instrumental in revitalizing Grand Central Station as well as the White House. She also held this country together during the assignation of her husband and our President John F. Kennedy.
13
Shirley Chisholm was a corker, and I'm really glad to have been old enough to pay attention to her in 1972 against Nixon.
Looking back; her very vital and startlingly proud and commanding presence included no whining or outrage, and as such she naturalized the idea of a very black Black Woman stepping up for high office. She owned the role, and if she were around today she'd be a very big thing based on talent rather than PC handout.
She's a landmark figure as are about half the women in this list. That said monuments being easy to make and nice to have around, I see no reason not to immortalize everyone herein.
11
Billy Holiday. In the 30s, 40, and 50s she influenced the interpretation of not just jazz singing but the interpretation of the Great American Songbook. Treated despicably by the police she has nevertheless managed to leave us a vocal history of one of this country's greatest bodies of music.
4
@Mike - Billie Holiday came to NYC with her sister to practice the Oldest Profession, which she did, and became a serious hardcore dope addict. Yes she has a fine voice worth listening to and collecting. While her work is special for her emotion and coronet like tone, it is by no means "one of this country's greatest bodies of music." She didn't write, and her unseemly lifestyle is nothing to lionize.
When you build memorials you don't just scattershot based on bits of success, you have to use some real judgment, not just romantic attachment to some small element of a character's life.
4
@CK
Well, we lionize boatloads of men with unseemly lifestyles.
Lionize away and yes, please, commemorate the great Lady Day.
6
@CK Also exploited by the wonderful Music Industry!
Women in science and medicine are strikingly absent from this list. Names elude me, which is in itself telling, but I know there are many.
8
@Jake
Rosalyn Yalow, Bronx native, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1977 for her work in radioimmunoassay conducted at the Bronx VA. She overcame intense antisemitism and sexism to pursue her career in biomedical research. An amazing woman with an amazing life story.
4
@Jake Hedy Lamarr, whose invention of rapidly changing frequencies made smart phones possible.
8
@Jake
The experimental physicist Chien-Shiung Wu, whom someone mentioned below, arguably deserved a share of Lee and Yang's Nobel Prize and would be a good choice. Anna Wessels Williams, a pioneering bacteriologist at the New York City Department of Health's Research Laboratory in the early 20th century, is relatively unknown these days, but she should be mentioned in the same sentence as Hermann Biggs and William H. Park as key figures in the history of science and public health in New York.
3
Women should be recognized, they have been treated unfairly. I don't know if statues are the way to go, I rarely look at them. Perhaps informative murals on subway station platforms educating the masses of their success that came from trying against the odds.
2
Why does NYC have prominent statues to war criminals like General Sherman and none to Shirley Chisholm?
2
Eleanor Roosevelt!!!!!
14
wonderful list! many great women to honor. how about Margaret Mead?
4
This is an excellent idea and all of the proposed honorees are more than worthy to be remembered with a statue. Nonetheless there is much to be feared here. Isn't there a risk that the current extremities of our local and national politics will end up abusing the effort? Ten statues today followed by demands for an unending proliferation of statues to appease every angry philosophical corner in our country. Worthy statues today buried in political wars that will aim to insert granite tomes everywhere for scoundrels, criminals, haters, morons, fanatics, religious icons and on and on. We are at that insane point in our history and should think twice before feeding it.
1
I would include a statue of Jane Jacobs who handed Robert Moses one of his very few defeats and helped save large parts of Manhattan from being bulldozed for freeways.
26
Oh what a can of worms. I'm a feminist and I don't lament, or notice, the lack of female statues. Now, who should it be? Has our city's diversity numbers been followed? Should she be naked or clothed--she's a woman after all! Please stop it and think about one of the many, many more important problems we face today. Isn't the Statue of Liberty enough? She is for me.
4
@ BG As a feminist, I would hope you would understand how important it is for girls (and everyone) to see women honored for their accomplishments. Your mention of “naked or clothed” holds no weight, as that is not the issue at hand. Naked statuary in art is usually about the human form, not a specific person. Of course there are many “larger” problems, and you are free to address them or support their solutions in any way you choose. However, women are underrepresented and in NYC we have many role models to choose from. I would love to see statues of Margaret Sanger, Shirley Chisholm, Jane Jacobs to name a few.
8
How about Bella Abzug, rabble rouser and change agent extraordinaire? How about the great athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias? Surely they’re in the second set.
21
Missing from this wonderful list of incredible women is my mother. Forced to drop out of high school to take care of her mother following the death of her father; then raising six kids; she entered the NYC School System first as a paraprofessional, then a teacher, going to school at night to get her GED, Associates, Bachelor's and Master's degrees, to devote herself for over 35 years to some of the most challenged students in the very same Bronx neighborhood from where she herself grew up.
12
Soon, we will run out of space for memorials!
I think it's better to name a project after a woman who was instrumental in lighting the fuse that sought to enlighten humanity and serve those who were less fortunate. Men already have their statues and memorials well placed in parks, plazas, etc., etc.
How about a project to revitalize and elevate our public schools to what they should be for every child in the US? I would call it the "Eleanor Roosevelt Initiative!" That's the best way to remember her and at the same time, accomplish great things for society!
Over time, even stone turns to sand but great ideas are forever!
Thank you for this! Some of the women are familiar but others are new but all deserve to take their rightful place in US history.
2
Great list. Made me think of the Ella Fitzgerald statue in Yonkers. Maybe another Ella statue at the Apollo would be appropriate.
10
As an example of how to make a statue exciting and modern, I suggest the Women's Monument on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, by a (female) sculptor named Meredith Bergmann. She places three famous Boston women, from three different centuries, in a triangle, inviting the viewer to stroll into the center and, in an almost magical way, commune with them. Most of the statues of men in NYC are boring, no more than places for pigeons to poop. The women mentioned in this article deserve better, and so do the people of New York!
3
All these women were unbelievably brave and determined and we are lucky to have had them as New Yorkers but please honor Shirley Chisholm! She really deserves it! I remember how badly she was treated in Washington and the determination that she showed standing up to the white establishment, all the crap she took, just to represent her constituents! She was INCREDIBLE!
21
I'm glad this is being redressed, but I've always thought it's pretty great that what is arguably the most famous statue in the world is a woman - Lady Liberty, of course. And the poem that accompanies her was written by a woman as well. Having said that, more are needed!
10
STELLA ADLER - Great acting teacher, daughter of Jacob Adler and member of great Yiddish Theater acting family, 1901-1992.
9
Hey Ginia, how about Edie Windsor? She challenged the Supreme Court and paved the way for Gay Marriage across the country! I knew her and she was a courageous, dynamic woman who made us proud and happy to be able to marry the person we loved! Barbara Raggi
8
Um, what is preventing people from privately subscribing to erect statues, as was done with the MAJORITY of existing statues? And who knows: will they be torn down 100 years later as tastes change and they are found “offensive?”
3
“The statue was of a nude woman playing a slide trombone. It was entitled, enigmatically, Evelyn and Her Magic Violin.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
Let's do away with all statues. No more statues anywhere anytime of anyone.
4
Anna Wessels Williams! Not familiar with her? Look her up. At the very least, she belongs in the NYT’s obit series, if she didn’t have a proper obituary the first time around.
Re. public health: S. Josephine Baker would be another good choice.
1
How about Jigonhsasee. She brought together the nations that became the Iroquois and many believe that the constitution that created that centuries-long peace was a model for the US Constitution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigonhsasee
4
good list, but no statues. attach their names to worthy projects
13
@steve I also fail to see the relevance of statues in today's society. They date from an era when most people spent a good deal of time outdoors, commuting on foot to work, for shopping, or strolling through parks and public squares. I question whether it is a wise expenditure of funds when there is still so much inequity in our society and all the people rushing between Starbucks and their Ubers are all staring into their cell phones. They are unaware even of all the statues of men, except when they are being removed for being offensive. Trying to achieve equity with anachronistic relics is both a waste of time and money and will do nothing to educate new generations about the achievements of these women. Placing blurbs about them on Google's home page would be much more effective.
I second your excellent suggestion.
Sweet Low, the Harriet Tubman memorial on Frederick Douglass in Harlem, certainly is worth a mention of the few statues of women.
2
There are still more women statues in the city than women doormen.
3
Francis Perkins deserves more than a statue. While Eleanor was the face of the New Deal Perkins was the architect and builder! How little is known of her makes me sad.
8
Dr. Leona Baumgartner, MD, PhD!! First female Health Commissioner of NYC (1954-1962).
3
All these women should be memoralized in bronze and placed all over the city.
4
After reading a number of books about the Roosevelts, it is astonishing to me that Eleanor Roosevelt has been honored with a measly statue in New York City, her hometown (and she was a lifelong New Yorker), while a carpetbagger like Robert Kennedy, who never officially lived in New York at the time of his election nor spent much time there afterwards, gets the Triborough Bridge named after him! Similar self-congratulating politicians of little accomplishment like Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo have been honored in the same way.
Eleanor was Franklin's eyes and ears as she traveled around the country and the world for him and his programs that gave a hope to a country scared to death by the Depression and WWII. She was instrumental in the later integration of the military and was a delegate to the U.N., as well as championing the equality of women everywhere. Her tireless selflessness extended to an uncaring for for her inherited wealth --- what a dilettante she COULD have been! --- and worked among the tenements of the Lower East Side, pricking Franklin's conscience as an equally wealthy young person, and she even "neglected" to spend stipends to maintain the White House (The image of sprucing up her mansion while, "One third of the nation is ill-housed, ill-clothed and ill-fed", must have horrified her.).
NO! Take Karpetbagger Kennedy's name off that NYC bridge and rename it after Our Greatest First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. It's the very least we can do to show our gratitude.
44
@CM
You have nailed it! I never fully processed what you point out until now.
As much of a Koch fan as I was, I could not believe that the bridge was renamed after him - AND that the renaming process began while Hizzoner was still alive, much of it under his own auspices!
Our culture is so steeped (drowning!) in the male-dominated world of self-congratulatory cultural-hagiographical pap that its barely discernible anymore. A thick choking yoke that needs to be thrown off.
7
My mother always spoke of the potential of women, using Eleanor Roosevelt and Francis Perkins as her examples.
18
Jane Jacobs for her work in restraining the excesses of Robert Moses.
32
Sojourner Truth born into slavery in Ulster County her work and vision of African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist is a gift to the nation.
23
Good grief. I am so tired of hearing about statues, statues, statues. How about this: NO MORE STATUES. Of people. Statues of animals, fine. Weird modern art statues, OK. An abject shape in a public place is not going to enrage the next generation. Neither is a unicorn statue. People really, REALLY need to move on from this statues of historical figures thing and spend their outrage on something that actually matters to humanity. Climate change. Homelessness. The 2018 election. Take your pick.
12
@Nadia
"People really, REALLY need to move on from this statues of historical figures thing and spend their outrage on something that actually matters to humanity. Climate change. Homelessness. The 2018 election.
OK, yeah I sort of see your point. But nobody is talking about 'outrage'. Outrage does not produce statues.
Humans are pack animals. Of every 100 of us there will be a single leader. Throughout history, its been one or two individuals sparking the minds and mettle of other people to join together to create change.
Jonas Salk? Martin Luther King? Eleanor Roosevelt? Mahatma Gandhi? Jane Jacobs? Abraham Lincoln? Winston Churchill? Harvey Milk? Katherine Graham?
These are all examples of people who were able to define, espouse, envision and crystallize into existence (via their leadership!) a larger human desire for change of some sort.
As humans, we strive to emulate and nurture the traits and ethics of such people - and this is why statuary is a necessary and 'permanent' way to achieve that.
4
@Nadia 1) Why do you in San Francisco care about what statues we put up in New York? 2) it's not an either/or but an also/and.
4
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
8
Lillian Wald has a public housing project on the Lower East Side named after her.
1
Marilyn Monroe?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forever_Marilyn
2
She died for our sins.
1
The problem with statues is that they are a very male testosterone "I win" kind of monument. Women, thank goodness, are not men. Whether by nature or nurture, they have, in my mind, developed a superior method of coping with the world's problems. Uncredited, underpaid: that's wrong and unfair. But please let's all aspire to be as women are!
2
Please, no monument to Dorothy Day. The very thought would have horrified her. Let her rest, as she surely does, in the lap of the Lord, a not-yet-recognized Saint. Better yet, follow her example. Become a saint yourself and don’t give a damn about being recognized.
10
To follow her example, we need to know it. It isn't just the statue that inform us, it is the engraved story beneath that sparks us. What is Liberty without her poem?
3
@s parson Dorothy Day wrote, and wrote, and wrote. If anyone wants to know her story (and more should), I recommend they borrow a copy of her book The Long Loneliness from the library.
Thank you Thank you Thank you! So inspiring. I would love to see these in a book as well as immortalized as statures.
2
So, Mother Frances X. Cabrini deserves no mention, and by association, the plight of Italian immigrants abandoned to any consideration of their social service needs upon their arrival. Cabrini had the verve to walk down Mulberry Street and to serve the tenement dwellers. She came to their assistance. She opened a thriving major hospital and a number of schools. She was astute and a very clever business woman who could match the wits and genius of the male business establishment of the time. Why wouldn't that be as significant a New York contribution along with Lillian Wald who served another much needy immigrant population not too far away? Does this awful omission make the whole selection process a scam of make believe diversity?
It would be an awful omission of the only person, no matter religion or choice of religious life she lived, who served one of America’s largest immigrant populations while Margaret Sanger was trying to persuade them to use birth control…probably because of what she considered their genetic inferiority. Read all about it. But Margaret gets a mention.
Thank you Ms. Bellafante for being so magnificently diverse in your “we” opinion…whoever “we” is and their ideological agenda.
2
Some great picks but spend the money on public housing renovations.
4
You have made my day....week...heck year! Francis Perkins is one of my personal heroes. As I was clicking on the link, I was thinking, "Darn. Wish I'd known about the survey to nominate Francis Perkins." And then, BAM, there's her photo. I nearly cried. It's just so amazing.
6
I agree wholeheartedly! I’ve read everything I could find about Francis Perkins...she was simply amazing.
I worked for DOL during the Carter years and loved walking into our building named after her.
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Madame CJ Walker. First African-American female millionaire who sold women's hair care products and taught women how to become entrepeneurs through selling her products door-to-door.
She preceeded the Mary Kay Cosmetics format of multi-level marketing of women's skin care products. Also, CJ Walker's daughter was one of the founders of the Harlem Renaissance.
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Statues... how second millennium.
(But it was nice to read about these great women)
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These pictures -- and accompanying text -- are wonderful. I would love to have a coffee table book with these for myself, for my daughter. Great work New York Times!
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Ginia Bellafante proves once again that she is the NYT's hidden gem.
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And where is Emma Goldman, an equalitist beyond compare?
She was there on birth control, anti-war and war-profits, on the "theft" of wages from the poor to the rich which we now call the "gender gap", she fought the tyranny of the patriarchal society and household, even bull-whipping one of her ex-lovers.
She was hated and dogged by Palmer and the proto-type of the FBI. She was deported to Russia with only the clothes on her back.
She talked fast, she talked LOUD and she never stopped writing, unthreading the complexity of the theory of anarchism: How one handles one's duty to one's country, duty to one's family AND duty to one's self. For her that wasn't a hierarchy and she didn't sneer at duty to one's self like the Christian religion did or that Ayn Rand would monetize 50 years in the future. Emma was never about making money, stealing from others, she wasn't part of a tiny little enclave of elitists, sneering at the "stupid little people".
She was for all persons, all sexes, for freedoms that others were making money on: She was for birth control - NOT for the forced breeding of women and men so that the rich could have their pick of wage-slaves, of desperate people.
Where is her statue?
She was hated.
She was feared.
She was everything that we need today: Intelligent, fearless, LOUD because there were no microphones .... just lots of poor people who needed help, who needed someone to shout in the faces of the trumpmen and Trumpbots.
Emma.
Where is her statue...?
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@rosa Perhaps she doesn't have a statue because ca. 1892 she and her lover/fellow anarchist planned to assassinate industrialist and financier Henry Clay Frick (who survived the attempt). She was also imprisoned several times for inciting to riot, and in 1919 was deported to Russia.
Most people would think this record is ample reason not to erect a statue in her honor, though de Blasio may find it reason to do so.
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@Mon Ray
You're confusing Alexander Berkman with Emma.
Berkman was imprisoned for 14 years for his attempt. Emma was never charged or imprisoned.
As for the other charges you level: Everyone who was anyone was jailed for "inciting to riot" back then. The cops and jails were owned by the industrialists and they jailed whomever they were told to. That list went on forever: Unionists, especially Wobblies, socialists, anarchists, communists, women wanting birth control, Catholics demanding the Church tend the poor, those against the wars, those against conscription.... that's a mini-list.
Anyone grouping together was deemed a "mob" and whoever bellowed "STOP!" first was named their "ring-leader". Usually that was Emma.
Now,look again at that list: Those are the beliefs that were either legal back in the Old Country or illegal back in the Old Country.
Turned out the New Country was the same as the Old Country.
The US loved it when Russia had a revolution. It gave them someplace to deport unwanted American citizens.
Kinda like today, ay?
And your sneer at de Blasio is unworthy.
@rosa If you re-read my original comment carefully you will see that I did not say that Emma went to prison for the Frick assassination attempt but for inciting to riot multiple multiple times leading to multiple prison sentences. She also served time for inducing American men not to register for the draft.
I don't think she was deported to Russia in 1920 for being an exemplary (statue-worthy) citizen of the US--quite the contrary.
Communist Russia apparently did not live up to her expectations (surprise, no free speech in Russia), so from ca. late 1921 until her death in 1940 in Toronto she lived in Germany, England, Canada and France.
This type of art is passe.
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@Lucinda Piersol...huh?
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Loved reading about these ladies, but why stop at 10? Let’s aim for 50/50 gender representation in our statues across the city!
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The City's initiative to see more monuments depicting women on NYC streets and in NYC parks is surely an effort by the Mayor (or his wife?) to burnish their progressive credentials in order to advance political ambitions.
The NYT's request for suggestions of women to memorialize drew a paltry 400 responses, hardly an enthusiastic response or a representative sample.
I have nothing against monuments (except those depicting tyrants or racists et al.), so I am looking forward to a City-sponsored effort to generate suggestions for monuments of prominent African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians, to name a few.
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Where's Bella Abzug?
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@DavidF
Bella Abzug did not sponser or have passed a single PUBLIC bill in her entire congressional career.Why don't we save our statue for someone wh accomplished something?
It is not incorrect to say, "It's about time!" The United States is filled with worthy women.
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Shirley Chisholm
Lillian Wald terrif image!
Zora Neale Hurston
Writer and central figure in the Harlem
Dorothy Day
YES AND YES AND YES AND …
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Fantastic list. More great work by Ms. Bellafante! Give them all statues.
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Martha Graham!!!!
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What about Margaret Sanger? Is there already a statue?
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Yes agreed, there should be more statues of women in America who helped make it great but don't make the mistake our society did for its first app. 250 yrs. ie using gender, male as the primary deciding factor.
Don make gender, in this case women, the primary deciding factor.
It takes time to see if a person was great. Even our greatest leader Lincoln took until 1920 until they gave him a monument. That is why when you construct statues to women they should have lived at least 50 or more yrs ago, so objective people can agree on their greatness and done slowly ie not as a revenge act against men.
So go slow, if you obsess about gender, you will end up constructing present day statues to women who don't deserve it and deny it to men who deserve it.
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The Times should spend more ink on issues of real substance such as how to increase paid parental leave in America than on these Office of Symbolism feel-good pieces. Benefiting real people, overwhelmingly women, in real time.
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@William Shine - why not honor those who dedicated their lives to "issues of real substance" AND continue to shine a light on/advocate on behalf of current inequities and needs?
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How about women sculptors to make the monuments of women? There are many to choose from.
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Fran Lebowitz! She should be on a horse too—to represent strength and satire.
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@Maria - she's not dead yet! Let's wait a bit on hers. :)
This is fantastic. I'm particularly pleased to see Dorothy Day here. My mother worked with her on the Catholic Worker in that extraordinary era in NYC, the 1940s; and in the 1970s I met Day when she spoke at my university. She was really something. I second/third the calls for the inimitable Jane Jacobs to be so honoured. And what about Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Grace Paley, Edith Wharton, Edna St Vincent Millay...?
In London, there's quite a stupid debate that erupts from time to time over commemorative statues - that is, 'we've got quite enough, so even with a dearth devoted to women, case closed'. Despite this, Parliament Square does have a new statue devoted to suffragette Millicent Fawcett. There should be more - a really fine one to Virginia Woolf (I don't admire the current bronze bust), for instance, and something to honour one of the great expatriate writers of London, Doris Lessing. Among many others.
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Where's Edith Wharton? Oh, that's right, she was a wealthy aristocrat and white. Of course she was also the greatest female writer in the history of NYC.
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@DLS
"Oh, that's right, she was a wealthy aristocrat and white."
Yikes!
Aren't you overlooking Lilian Wald? She was a very wealthy white woman.
Francis Perkins - another white woman - came from a well-to-do Boston family that was even described as 'rich' at one point.
Inez Milholland was another white wealthy woman from a rich family who had homes both in New York and London.
And, finally, Shirley Chisholm - a black woman - was a multi-millionaire!
All these woman transcended whatever their innate circumstances were to connect with, enable and nurture the greater world around them.
Isn't that really the point here?
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Ignoring the blowhard whining, I agree that Wharton is an obvious choice for a statue celebrating a major cultural figure.
Eleanor Roosevelt.
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@Jane T
There's one already of her. It's located at 72nd and Riverside Drive.
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Don't overlook Margaret Sanger, birth control and women's reproductive rights advocate who started a revolution in modern social and political movements.
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Dorothy Parker!
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Great choices but you are missing a couple of additional worthies....Eleanor Roosevelt???(Unless there is a statue of her someplace in this great city).
@daniel a friedman
Yep, there is already one here in Riverside Park and its mentioned in the first paragraph of the article.
But I say there should be more than one!
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@daniel a friedman There is a statue of her in the lower end of Riverside Park which I mention in the piece.
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@daniel a friedmanMy apologies...I should not have skimmed the beginning of the article to see who were the 10 women that were mentioned for possible statues.
QUOTE: Behind every angry woman is a man who has absolutely no idea what he did wrong.
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@Mel Nunes -- please elaborate on the relevancy of this, as I find it confusing.
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Andrea Dworkin, feminist author-activist against systems of sexual exploitation.
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Jane Jacobs
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Maybe they already have stautes but if not: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Bella Absug
Amelia Earhart
Louise Nevelson
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Eleanor Roosevelt
Willa Cather
Diane Arbus
Eva La Gallienne
Margaret Sanger
Dorothy Parker
Martha Graham
Betty Freidman
Jacqueline Kennedy
Maria Tallchief
Barbara Walters
Diana Ross
Billie Holiday
Sojourner Truth
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell
Marion Anderson
Chien-Shiung Wu
All these women have not only been important to NY but to America and the world. And there are many, many more.
So many have been New Yorkers at some time.
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Lilian Wald did something very important not mentioned in her bio here. She refused to allow the city fathers to cover up the burgeoning 1918 flu epidemic. She was an important public health whistle-blower.
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Joan Whitney Payson, who gave us the New York Mets.
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How could you not include Bella Abzug?
Or least her hat?
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How about Emily Warren Roebling, who helped complete the Brooklyn Bridge?
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More women in statue.....absolutely not! Statues are, at best, offensive. If one is so sexist that they insist on statue gender quotas, and if they are so determined to force political correctness of others, then the solution is removal of statues to bring the gender ratio into alignment with political correctness.
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I note that among the public monuments in Memphis TN is one on the University of Memphis campus to 8 women important in the history of the city. One or two are ones you'll have heard of, but one was the madam of an early whorehouse in the city. During a yellow fever epidemic, she turned it into a hospital and encouraged her girls to stay on as nurses.
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@ETOrdman
At last, a way to make hospitals profitable!
Can't tell you how fascinating this tribute about incredible women "before their time." How about rotating statues throughout the city with more names!
@Gablesgirl
Or maybe place generic female body sculptures in high-traffic areas in all of the boroughs, with interchangeable heads and explanatory text panels rotating from location to location every six months, thus ensuring maximum viewership.
This will also reduce costs because the generic female figures can be mass-produced and it should cost less for materials and sculptor's fees to produce heads instead of full bodies.
What a fascinating list of formidable New York historical figures.
I would add Edith Wharton, who transcended her privileged background to write some of our greatest literature and indelibly captured the transitional nature of dynamic New York.
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Great article. The many statues of women in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris is one of the things that puts that city in a class by itself.
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Wonderful and fascinating list!!! I’m going to the library to get some more information on a couple of these amazing women who I’m not familiar with. I think they all deserve statues most definitely. Thank you so much!
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Thanks to Ginia Bellafante for her fine article about underrepresented women. Hopefully, soon more statutes will be erected honoring the many, many women who broke barriers and stood out over the centuries. One such woman who often is overlooked is JEANNETTE RANKIN, America's first congresswoman. Few people know that she was elected to Congress from Montana in 1916, a full century before Hillary Clinton became the first female major-party candidate for president. Rankin was a leader in the suffrage movement and throughout much of the 20th century, she was a leading feminist and pacifist. In fact, she was a nationally known anti-war activist into her 90s. I have spent a good deal of time researching Rankin's life for my children's book about her, which will be published in the fall (Jeannette Rankin: America's First Congresswoman). She and many, many others deserve to be honored for their accomplishments and their effort in bringing positive change.
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@Peter Aronson
I too celebrate Congresswoman Rankin --- but what does she have to do with New York? The motivating energy and magnetic drive of New York have both called-to and created countless women over the centuries who resided here, benefitting from and contributing to all that is magnificent about our City and State.
Should Montana erect a statue of Jane Jacobs in Butte?
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Growing up in NYC I took for granted the importance of all manner of memorialized men, and I'd like my children and their to take for granted that women make a difference too.
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You might point out to your children that the two largest statues in NYC are of women: The Statue of Liberty and the statue on top of the city building opposite City Hall.
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@Steve
Not flesh and blood historic figures. Women as abstractions, as usual.
1
As a non American, I love these American writers who were undeniably New Yorkers:
Edith Wharton
Nora Ephron
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Ayn Rand venerated New York. She revered it as a glorious symbol of America's freedoms and successes and limitless potential. She even had offices in a monument she loved, the Empire State Building. She did more for the cause of individual rights than any of the women listed. Where is the call for her statue? I don't think I'll be seeing it in the Times.
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@Ed L. -- Ayn Rand was a self-serving hypocrite and wrote long-winded fictional novels. She was no fan of altruism but took full advantage of the social programs paid by the tax payers. Too bad another fictional character (Mr. Spock) was not created when she was around. His response to her characters, courtesy of the writers of "Star Trek", would have been - "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few....or the one."
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@Ed L. definitely NOT.
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@Ed L. Nope you won't and that's a good thing.
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I vote for Zora Neale Hurston in front of Barnard. Like Alice Austen, Hurston died in poverty and obscurity. However, thanks to Alice Walker’s essay, “In Search of My Mother’s Garden,” she was rediscovered, and needs to have a physical presence in NYC.
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When I saw the title of the article I thought, I hope they include Frances Perkins - and you did! She is one of my personal heroes. And her early career was centered in New York.
As for the Joan of Arc statue on the West Side - it's there because the art patron J. Sanford Saltus was a bit of a nut. For example, Saltus believed that Louis XVII had survived the French Revolution and was living in Wisconsin (shades of the Dauphin in Huckleberry Finn). Saltus was obsessed with Joan of Arc and endowed many statues of her. But the statue is a fine example of the art of a great sculptor who happened to be female - Anna Hyatt Huntington - so it is in itself a monument of women's contributions to New York City.
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An excellent selection, indeed. Having nominated Shirley Chisholm, and it was pleasing to see she topped the list.
However, it was surprising not to see either Margaret Mead or Margaret Sanger on the list. Perhaps it needed to be expanded to a dozen rather than only 10?
I strongly disagree with those comments that state the era of erecting statues is over. We need our children to be aware of the contributions of these women to society, and statues such as these still serve that purpose. The massive attention to the little girl statue on Wall Street is evidence that it does make a difference.
So now, which organizations will come forward to fund any of the nominated statues?
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@wysiwyg
You're right the 'Fearless Girl' statue at Bowling Green got attention but I don't think it's a great example to support your contention.
The statue is interesting enough but it was purely a business stunt for social/ political theatre.
@wysiwygI'm sure the United Daughters of the Confederacy can probably get some statue money together. That's what they do isn't it ?
@wysiwyg Margaret Mead has a Public School named after her in Brooklyn!
All good choices. Statues of each woman could be located anywhere in the US, given the breadth of their accomplishments. I’d caution against removing existing statues to make room for any of these, except that statutes of Jane Jacobs should definitely be located on sites within view of anything that Robert Moses built. Or maybe facing down Moses’ statue in Babylon, if it’s still there. That’s be fun.
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Regardless of the merit of these women, I feel the age of statues and memorials is largely over. Interest in the past is in serious decline. Fifty years ago, I lived a couple of blocks from the Hall of Fame in the Bronx. I was often dismayed to find so many of the persons honored were unknown to me. This institution has since faded away and few seem to have noticed.
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@David I don't know about that. My family, for one, would make a special trip to NYC to explore the city and go on this walking tour (and/or bus tour) of these statues. And I know I would not be alone. Statues of these women, women of substance, art of substance - to be public art would be extraordinary. I too, sometimes bemoan the fact that people don't spend the time with the public art we currently have. However -- it's kind of hard to get excited about visiting the statues of so many men of war or men of position/wealth who were able to afford the building of statues to themselves. Obviously, many exceptions -- the work of St. Gaudens (for example, Sherman Memorial) is a masterpiece.
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Excellent point about the recognition of women long ignored for their accomplishments. However I honestly believe that each of these women, with few if any exceptions, would prefer the statue money allotment be used for the homeless who adorn our streets, instead of another marble or bronze bird restroom!
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@Ben
I forget to add that a better place for these women is in the history books and curriculums in our public schools., in documentaries and films, etc.
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Margaret Mead -- in the park area at the Museum of Natural History.
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@CathyS
For many years when Margaret Mead worked at the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West she actually lived there, occupying a modest apartment that she ultimately had to give up because the museum needed the space for collections storage and work areas.
She was a controversial figure in and outside the museum, but she made substantial contributions to anthropology and the understanding of the human experience. Surely if statues of prominent New York women are to be erected hers should be included among them.
Note to sculptor: Don't forget the long forked stick she carried with her everywhere, and tapped on the floor imperiously when she wanted assistance or an opportunity to present a different viewpoint.
1
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. "The Rebel Girl" (Joe Hill wrote that song about her.)
A fiery red-haired Irish-American from the Bronx, she was expelled from New York City public schools at age 17 for making Socialist speeches. Offered an acting contract by Ziegfield, she instead joined the Wobblies (the I.W.W.) and helped organize workers in great strikes from the Far West to New Jersey. Considered one of the greatest organizers & orators in the history of the American labor movement, Gurley Flynn was a pioneer feminist and a first rate writer--her 'Rebel Girl' autobiography is a neglected American classic.
Why is it that you have never heard of this great woman New Yorker?
Although one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union, she was subsequently expelled from the ACLU--due to her leadership position in the Communist Party USA. During Cold War One, she was indicted under the Smith Act and sent to Federal Womens Prison. A prophet without honor in her own land, her funeral in Moscow was attended by 25,000 workers.
And if you asked her, Flynn would probably like her monument in the Bronx.
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@Red Allover
I find it odd that at a time when President Trump is being criticized for trying to make nice with the Russians, someone would suggest a statue of a past leader of the Communist Party USA, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.
Given that de Blasio will likely move further to the left to appease Democratic Socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cynthia Nixon, he may arrange to have Flynn's statue moved up to the top of the list for production. He, along with Ocasio-Cortez and Nixon, will probably be thrilled to learn that 25,000 workers turned out at her funeral in Moscow.
I believe most New Yorkers and most Americans would not consider Elizabeth Flynn a worthy subject for commemoration.
1
@Red Allover I find it odd that at a time when President Trump is being criticized for trying to make nice with the Russians, someone would suggest a statue of a past leader of the Communist Party USA, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.
Given that de Blasio will likely move further to the left to appease Democratic Socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cynthia Nixon, he may arrange to have Flynn's statue moved up to the top of the list for production. He, along with Ocasio-Cortez and Nixon, will probably be thrilled to learn that 25,000 workers turned out at her funeral in Moscow.
However, I believe most New Yorkers and most Americans would not consider Elizabeth Flynn a worthy subject for commemoration.
So you believe that Americans should not have the benefits of free health care (far less expensive than for profit health care) or free college education enjoyed by citizens of other first world nations for decades. C
How to even begin to praise such a magnificent article?
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Overreaching. The first few are, indeed, monumental figures. But Beverly Sills? No. Nor the others after her. Kitty Carlise Hart, yes, but you didn't consider her, nor Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or Agnes De Mille. Are you following any standards?
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@Grittenhouse
"...but you didn't consider her, ....Are you following any standards?
The article clearly opens by stating that The Times "asked readers who should be memorialized. Here is what they told us."
All of the women listed were submissions made by readers, not a list populated with submissions from within The Times.
As an aside, New York City is (very!) arguably the cultural capital of the World. The amount of energetic zeal and dynamism brought to our City's citizens via its operatic, theatrical, musical and other creative arts enterprises is and has been nearly immeasurable!
7
Jane Jacobs, Margaret Sanger
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Jane Jacob's changed the landscape of every American city and millions live in better, more beautiful, more engaged communities because of her.
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@M All caps: JANE JACOBS
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@M my choices too!
1
What about Connie Motley? Brilliant civil rights attorney, Borough President, first Black woman on the federal bench.
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@Stuart Falk
Constance Baker Motley to the rest of us.
Great suggestion, though.
Jane Jacobs.
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