A statue featuring a black person was added for the first time to the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall collection on Wednesday.
The statue of Mary McLeod Bethune, a civil rights activist and presidential adviser, replaces one that featured a Confederate general that was removed in 2021 after former Gov. Rick Scott of Florida signed a law to remove it in 2018. The statue of Bethune is the first of several to replace Confederate statues, as Virginia is set to remove its statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
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”Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s statue stands today as a monument to her incredible legacy. Fittingly for this Renaissance woman, it was made from marble from the same quarry Michaelangelo used to make the David statue,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was in attendance. “It’s a great addition to the National Statuary Hall collection.”
The statue was unveiled during a ceremony on Wednesday, with McCarthy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Reps. Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Val Demings (D-FL) in attendance.
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Each state is permitted to send two statues of chosen citizens to represent itself in the U.S. Capitol, with the option to replace existing statues with new ones if they so choose. Some states have replaced their statues, but Bethune’s is the first to depict a black person.
