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| 37°32′22″N 77°26′4″W / 37.53944°N 77.43444°W | |
| Location | 1000 Bank St, Richmond, VA 23219 |
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| Material | Granite, bronze, glass |
| Opening date | October 14, 2019 |
| Dedicated to | Contributions of women throughout Virginia history |
| Official website | |
The Virginia Women's Monument is a state memorial in Richmond, Virginia commemorating the contributions of Virginia women to the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America.[1] Located on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol, the monument is officially titled Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women's Monument and features life-sized bronze statues of eleven Virginia women placed in a small granite plaza.[2]
The monument was first proposed in 2009[3] and established by joint resolution of the Virginia General Assembly in 2010.[1] An 18-member commission, along with input from the Library of Virginia and professors of women's history, selected the women to be honored with statues sculpted by StudioEIS in Brooklyn, New York. The granite plaza and Wall of Honor were opened in October 2018 and the monument was officially unveiled with the first seven completed statues on October 14, 2019.[4]
The seven women were Cockacoeske, chieftain of the Pamunkey tribe; Anne Burras Laydon, Jamestown colonist; Mary Draper Ingles, frontierswoman and American pioneer; Elizabeth Keckley, seamstress and confidant of Mary Todd Lincoln; Laura Copenhaver, entrepreneur; Virginia Randolph, prominent educator; Adele Goodman Clark, suffragist and activist.[4]
In May 2022 additional statues of Sarah Garland Boyd Jones, physician; Maggie L. Walker, businesswoman and teacher; Clementina Rind, the first female newspaper printer and publisher in Virginia; and Martha Washington, inaugural first lady of the United States, were installed.[5][6]
- ^ a b "Senate Joint Resolution No. 11". Virginia's Legislative Information System. Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Curran, Colleen (October 14, 2019). "'A monumental day': Seven statues unveiled at Virginia Women's Monument on Capitol Square". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
- ^ a b "Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women's Monument is Nation's First Monument Honoring Full Scope of Women's Achievements" (PDF). Virginia Women's Monument Commission. October 1, 2019.
- ^ "Final two statues installed at Virginia Women's Monument". WRIC ABC 8News. May 29, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ "'Open to all parties but influenced by none:' The Virginia Gazette's first female printer, editor memorialized at state Capitol". Daily Press. January 25, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.