Vote On Central Park Women's Suffrage Monument Postponed

CENTRAL PARK, NY — A city commission decided Monday to push back a vote on the redesign of a new Central Park monument honoring figures of the United States' women's suffrage movement that would be the first statue in the park to depict a woman.

Members of the Public Design Commission voted unanimously to table a vote on the statue, called the "Women's Rights Pioneer Monument," so the commission could solicit more public review and ensure that the statue is historically accurate, a spokeswoman for the body said Monday. The monument's sculptor Meredith Bergmann unveiled a new design Monday depicting Sojourner Truth, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton around a table.

A spokeswoman for the Public Design Commission could not confirm when the next vote on the monument will take place.

The group funding the construction of the statue, the Monumental Women's Statue Fund, did not reveal the new design until Monday's meeting. A previous design by Bergmann was approved by the Public Design Commission, but the group changed plans and decided to incorporate Truth into the statue after the initial design was criticized for "whitewashing" the women's suffrage monument.

Supporters of the monument wanted the Public Design Commission to approve the design on Monday so the statue could be built by August 2020. The targeted completion date is the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the PDC to get the statue approved so we can unveil it in time for the centennial anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment," a representative of the statue fund said in a statement.

Historians who criticized the statue fund's first design came into Monday's public hearing with concerns that the new statue would somehow misrepresent Sojourner Truth's legacy. Dozens of scholars sent a letter to the statue fund in August seeking to engage with the group on the new design, but the effort to collaborate went unanswered.

"For a month after announcing that their new design would incorporate Sojourner Truth, the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund, Inc. kept all design images confidential, even as they were involved with deliberation processes with public agencies -- the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Public Design Commission," reads testimony given on behalf of the Harlem Historical Society's Jacob Morris during Monday's meeting.

Morris' testimony asked the Public Design Commission to ensure that the statue will include some sort of plaque detailing "the different objectives among the suffrage activists," before voting in favor of the project.

The Monumental Women's Statue Fund announced in 2017 that a monument to the women's suffrage movement would be installed on The Mall and Literary Walk in Central Park by August 2020. The statue will be the first new commemorative monument in Central Park since 1965 and the first in the park to memorialize a woman.

Of the city parks system's 850 monuments, only four currently commemorate the achievements of historic women. Figures deemed worthy of statues in Central Park currently include Christopher Columbus, King Wladysław II Jagiello and the sled dog Balto.