This is a good start. Including all the boroughs is great. I'm sure that geography shaped some of the choices . Some women who seem obvious (different women to each of us perhaps) are not included but some of the women will now be seen and acknowledged. Good.That's what public art can do. Some of th suggestion in letters here would be good to pursue. There are in fact some websites about women an history in New York. Other cities, like Boston and Portland have walking trails on websites and mobile aps that are accessible. New York's size makes that harder. Anyway, I'm glad to learn about the women I didn't know about. Thanks.
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In 2007, my third- and fourth-grade public school class got a street named for Elizabeth Jennings on Park Row near City Hall. It's really exciting to see that she will get the wider recognition she deserves through this statue!
5
Billie Holiday in Queens? Shouldn’t it be Harlem where she came of age and performed in all the jazz clubs? Plus, Ella Fitzgerald, I think, was born in Queens, not Billie, who was from Baltimore.
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Political correctness has reached new heights--or depths.
As someone who lived in NYC off and on over a period of decades, and carried out professional (paid) research on NYC history, I had only heard or read of one of the figures to receive a monument, Billie Holiday.
Instead of monuments, how about a permanent website dedicated to, and describing the accomplishments of, distinguished women associated with NYC? That way literally billions of people around the world--not to mention NYC schoolchildren--can have access to this vitally important information, not just the small minority of NYC residents and visitors who happen to pass the monuments scattered around the boroughs. Also, the plaques on the monuments can contain only minuscule amounts of information about the honorees, whereas a website can contain copious amounts of text, photos, etc. for each person.
At $300K to $1 million a pop for each monument, I wonder if the effort is worth it: feels like tokenism to me. And won't limiting the monuments to women be offensive to the trans community, or will Chirlane McCray be announcing an effort to cover that base, as well?
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@Mal T Let's sell off some of those monuments to white males and use that money to install monuments that actually reflect the entire history of America.
13
When Aqueduct Park in the Bronx is ready for its woman statue, my mother, who grew up there, raised her family there and spent over 35 years teaching the most educationally vulnerable children of the neighborhood there, will be ready to take her rightful place as one of the greatest women the Bronx has ever had.
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@Intracoastal Irving
She sounds equally notable as the 3 no-names who accompany Billie Holiday on this list, so sure why not!
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I never knew that Billie Holiday had such a relationship with Queens, that a statue of her would be erected in that fair Borough! This is why I love the New York Times, and the powers that be, in the New York City of 2019!!!
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I am appalled by the comments submitted so far, complaining that the writers have never heard of these women. That’s the point of the exercise, friends.
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@Pat Y
No, the cited purpose of this project is to "honor historical women." Not to manufacture new ones. There is no shortage of historical figures that are woman NYers.
2
Why is Billie Holiday in Queens? There should be a stature of Billie (and many other jazz greats) in NYC for sure but I thought she lived in Harlem with her mother. Certainly, her fame was originally begun singing in clubs and recording in Manhattan.
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"Each new statue is expected to cost between $300,000 and $1 million".
They can just use some of the billions of dollars AOC says the city and state saved by shutting out Amazon.
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"Historical figures?"
I had to look up all the names besides Billie Holiday.
Seems like these are pretty far reaches when there are myriad other famous NY women throughout history. A "lighthouse keeper?" Seriously?
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@asdfj The whole point of this kind of project is to make it so more people will have heard of these important women. According to the article, the lighthouse keeper, whom you refer to derisively, saved the lives of at least 50 people.
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@Miriam Sicherman According to the article:
"As part of her job keeping the lighthouse, Walker signaled for assistance when shipwrecks occurred. Historians credit her with helping to save the lives of at least 50 people." I read this to mean she helped save at least 50 people when she signaled for others (first responders) to come to the aid of the shipwrecked people.
If I call in a fire alarm that results in the fire department rescuing 50 people from a burning building, do I deserve a statue? I don't think so.
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@Miriam Sicherman
Saving 50 lives isn't all that remarkable. How many hundreds or thousands of NYers from the last few hundred years do you think qualify for that?
And no, the point of this project is to "honor historical figures," not manufacture new ones. Eleanor Roosevelt, Billie Holiday, those are historical figures. These 3 no-names are not.
1