The Virginia Women's Monument is a state memorial in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

commemorating the contributions of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

women to the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America. Located on the grounds of the

Virginia State Capitol The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital city of the U.S. state of Virginia. (The first two were Jamestown and Williamsburg.) It houses the oldest elected ...

, 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. The monument was first proposed in 2009 and established by joint resolution of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

in 2010. An 18-member commission, along with input from the Library of Virginia and professors of

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a period of ...

, selected the women to be honored with statues sculpted by StudioEIS in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. 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. The seven women were

Cockacoeske Cockacoeske (also spelled ''Cockacoeskie'') (ca. 1640 – ca. 1686) was a 17th-century leader of the Pamunkey tribe in what is now the U.S. state of Virginia. During her thirty-year reign, she worked with the English colony of Virginia, try ...

, chieftain of the Pamunkey tribe; Anne Burras Laydon, Jamestown colonist;

Mary Draper Ingles Mary Draper Ingles (1732 – February 1815), also known in records as Mary Inglis or Mary English, was an American pioneer and early settler of western Virginia. In the summer of 1755, she and her two young sons were among several captives taken ...

, frontierswoman and American pioneer;

Elizabeth Keckley Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (February 1818 – May 1907) was an American seamstress, activist, and writer who lived in Washington, D.C. She was best known as the personal dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. Born into slavery, she was ow ...

, seamstress and confidant of

Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...

;

Laura Copenhaver Laura Lu Scherer Copenhaver (August 29, 1868 – December 18, 1940) was an American businesswoman. Copenhaver was a native of Marion, Virginia, where her father, the Reverend John Jacob Scherer, was the first president of Marion College. She wa ...

, entrepreneur;

Virginia Randolph Virginia Estelle Randolph (May 1870 – March 16, 1958) was an American educator in Henrico County, Virginia. She was named the United States' first "Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher" by her Superintendent of Schools, Jackson Davis, and sh ...

, prominent educator;

Adele Goodman Clark Adele Goodman Clark (September 27, 1882 – June 4, 1983) was an American artist and suffragist. Early life Clark was born in 1882 in Montgomery, Alabama to Robert Clark, a railroad worker originally from Belfast, and Estelle Goodman Clark, a J ...

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

and activist. In May 2022 additional statues of Sarah Garland Boyd Jones, physician; Maggie L. Walker, businesswoman and teacher;

Clementina Rind Clementina Rind (c. 1740–September 25, 1774) was a Colonial American woman who is known as being the first female newspaper printer and publisher in Virginia. Living and working in Williamsburg, Virginia, she took the printing press establish ...

, the first female newspaper printer and publisher in Virginia; and

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

, inaugural first lady of the United States, were installed.

History

Proposal

The idea for the monument came in 2009 from Richmond native

Em Bowles Locker Alsop EM, Em or em may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * EM, the E major musical scale * Em, the E minor musical scale * Electronic music, music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production * Enc ...

— a writer and former actress who had been considered for the role of

Scarlett O'Hara Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the ...

in the 1939 film ''Gone with the Wind''. Alsop lobbied her state senator,

Walter Stosch Walter Allen Stosch (born August 18, 1936, in Fredericksburg, Virginia) is an American politician in the Republican Party. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1983 until 1992, when he was elected to the Senate of Virginia. He was M ...

, who subsequently introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. 11 in the 2010 session of the

. The joint resolution, which created the Virginia Women's Monument Commission, was passed unanimously in both the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

and Senate of Virginia. In 2015, Alsop died at the age of 98, three years before the monument was first opened to the public. From the text of Senate Joint Resolution No. 11:

WHEREAS, throughout the ages women have been central to the perpetuation of society, and women of every nationality and race have left an indelible mark through their countless contributions, achievements, and accomplishments that have benefitted mankind; and WHEREAS, from the founding of the Commonwealth, the genius and creativity of women and their presence and contributions have been evident in every aspect of Virginia history and the life of the people of the Commonwealth; however, they have received little appreciation, recognition, or official acknowledgement... RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That a commemorative commission to honor the contributions of the women of Virginia with a monument on the grounds of Capitol Square be established.

The joint resolution established that the Virginia Women's Monument Commission would be composed of 19 members—the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Rules, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, representatives from the Senate and House, the Clerk of the House, and eight members of the general public. The resolution also established that the monument would be built with private funds.

Design

The monument was planned to have a total of 12 statues, chosen from every region of the state and representing the diverse achievements of women throughout the first 400 years of Virginia's history. Standing in the center of the plaza is a granite pedestal topped by a bronze sundial engraved with the names of several Virginia localities. Two benches line the sides of the oval plaza, along with a series of tempered glass panels, called the Wall of Honor, inscribed with the names of more than 200 additional important women of Virginia history. By the time the statues of Sarah Garland Boyd Jones and Maggie L. Walker were installed in 2022, the press referred to a total of 11 figures. Included in the original plan but missing from the final design was

Sally Louisa Tompkins Sally Louisa Tompkins (November 9, 1833 – July 25, 1916) was a humanitarian, nurse, philanthropist and the first woman to have been formally inducted into an army in American history. Many believe that she was also the only woman officially c ...

a Richmond hospital administrator and a captain in the Confederate army. Virginia Women's Monument February 2020.jpg, Early plan for the Virginia Women's Monument. VWM-model-02.jpg, Model for completed monument VWM-model-01.jpg, Model for completed monument

Statues

Current monument

Wall of Honor

A further 230 women are listed on the Wall of Honor of the Monument; further nominations are currently being solicited.

List of honorees

* Pocahontas (Matoaka) * Pauline Adams * Mollie Adams * Lucy Addison * Mary Aggie *

Ella Graham Agnew Ella Graham Agnew (March 18, 1871 – February 5, 1958) was a Virginia educator and social worker. She was the first woman named a field demonstration agent by the United States Department of Agriculture, and later occupied high-level positions s ...

* Mary C. Alexander * Sharifa Alkhateeb * Susie M. Ames * Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson * V. C. Andrews * Orie Moon Andrews * Ann (Pamunkey chief) *

Grace Arents Grace Evelyn Arents (1848 – June 20, 1926) was an heiress, Christian activist and philanthropist in Richmond, Virginia. She inherited $20 million from her uncle Lewis Ginter, a tobacco business magnate and philanthropist, and she used t ...

Nancy Astor Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945. Astor's first husband was America ...

* Addie D. Atkinson *

Anne Bailey Anne Bailey (1742 – November 22, 1825) was a British-born American story teller and frontier scout who served in the fights of the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. Her single-person ride in search of an urgently needed p ...

* Odessa Pittard Bailey * Mary Julia Baldwin * Lucy Barbour * Hazel K. Barger * Janie Porter Barrett *

Kate Waller Barrett Kate Waller Barrett (January 24, 1857 – February 23, 1925), née Katherine Harwood Waller, was a prominent Virginia physician, humanitarian, philanthropist, sociologist and social reformer, best known for her leadership of the National Florence ...

* M. Majella Berg * Frances Berkeley * Ann Bignall * Aline E. Black * Mary Blackford * Catherine Blaikley * Florence A. Blanchfield * Anna Bland * Cynthia Boatwright * Elisabeth S. Bocock * Anna W. Bodeker * Carrie J. Bolden * Mary Marshall Bolling * Matilda M. Booker * Gladys Boone * Dorothy Rouse Bottom * Geline MacDonald Bowman * Mary Richards Bowser * Rosa D. Bowser *

Belle Boyd Isabella Maria Boyd (May 9, 1844The date in the Boyd Family Bible is May 4, 1844 (), but Boyd insisted that it was 1844 and that the entry was in error. () See also . Despite Boyd's assertion, many sources give the year of birth as 1844 and the ...

* Sarah Patton Boyle * Mildred Bradshaw * Lucy Goode Brooks * Belle S. Bryan * Mary E. Brydon * Annabel Morris Buchanan * Dorothea D. Buck * Pattie Buford * Evelyn T. Butts *

Mary Willing Byrd Mary Willing Byrd (September 10, 1740 – March 1814) was an American planter. She was the second wife of Colonel William Byrd III, a Colonial American military officer at the time of the American Revolution and son of the founder of Richmond, ...

Sadie Heath Cabaniss Sadie Heath Cabaniss (October 9, 1865 – July 11, 1921) was a pioneer for nursing in Virginia and developed the first training school for nurses that followed the Nightingale plan. Her training school lives on to this day and is now the School of ...

* Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell * Willie Walker Caldwell * Edith Lindeman Calisch * Christiana Campbell * Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell * Eliza J. Carrington *

Maybelle Carter "Mother" Maybelle Carter (born Maybelle Addington; May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978) was an American country musician and "among the first" to use the Carter scratch, with which she "helped to turn the guitar into a lead instrument". It ...

Sara Carter Sara Elizabeth Carter (née Dougherty, later Bayes; July 21, 1898 – January 8, 1979) was an American country music musician, singer, and songwriter. Remembered mostly for her deep, distinctive, mature singing voice, she was the lead singer on ...

* Virginia Cary * Ruth Harvey Charity * Jean Outland Chrysler *

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

* Matty L. Cocke *

Sarah Johnson Cocke Sarah Johnson Cocke (, Johnson; after first marriage, Hagan; after second marriage, Cocke; February 7, 1865 – January 20, 1944) was an American writer and civic leader. She was also active in several women's clubs. Cocke's works of Southern fic ...

* Naomi Silverman Cohn * Cynthia B. T. Coleman * Edna M. Colson * Esther I. Cooper * Hannah Lee Corbin *

Ann Cotton Ann Lesley Cotton OBE (born 1950) is a Welsh entrepreneur and philanthropist who was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2006 Queen's New Year Honours List. The honour was in recognition of her services to education of you ...

* Lucy Ann Cox * Daphne Dailey * Margaret Dashiell *

Jo Ann Davis Jo Ann Davis (née Sides; June 29, 1950 – October 6, 2007) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party from Virginia, she represented the st ...

* Grace E. Davis *

Jennie Dean Jane Serepta Dean (April 15, 1848 – May 3, 1913) (nicknamed "Jennie" or "Miss Jennie") was born into slavery in northern Virginia, freed as a result of the American Civil War, and became an important founder of churches and Sunday Schools for A ...

Helen Dewar Helen Dewar (August 7, 1936–November 4, 2006) was a reporter for more than 40-years. She worked for ''The Washington Post'', rising through the ranks to cover the United States Senate for a quarter of a century (1979–2004). Dewar worke ...

* Emily W. Dinwiddie * Claudia Dodson * Bertha L. Douglass * M. Estelle Eley * Virginia Randolph Ellett * Margaret Erskine * Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans * Sarah Lee Fain * Lillie Fearnow * Rachel Findlay * Edith Fitzgerald *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

* Eve D. Fout * Ethel Bailey Furman * Elizabeth Furness * Mary Jeffery Galt * Charlotte C. Giesen *

Ellen Glasgow Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22, 1873 – November 21, 1945) was an American novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1942 for her novel ''In This Our Life''. She published 20 novels, as well as short stories, to critical ac ...

* Meta Glass * Thelma Young Gordon *

Nancy Hale Nancy Hale (May 6, 1908 – September 24, 1988) was an American novelist and short-story writer. She received the O. Henry Award, a Benjamin Franklin magazine award, and the Henry H. Bellaman Foundation Award for fiction. Early life and educatio ...

* India Hamilton * Dorothy Hamm * Marion Harland * Laura Jane Harper *

Jean Harris Jean Struven Harris (April 27, 1923 – December 23, 2012) was the headmistress of The Madeira School for girls in McLean, Virginia, who made national news in the early 1980s when she was tried and convicted of the murder of her ex-lover, Her ...

* Orie Latham Hatcher * Della I. Hayden * Mary Rice Hayes-Allen *

Sally Hemings Sarah "Sally" Hemings ( 1773 – 1835) was an enslaved woman with one-quarter African ancestry owned by president of the United States Thomas Jefferson, one of many he inherited from his father-in-law, John Wayles. Hemings's mother Elizabet ...

* Rachel Henderlite * Helen T. Henderson * Susanne Hirt * Anne Makemie Holden * Judith Hope *

Grace Hopper Grace Brewster Hopper (; December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of compu ...

* Nora Houston * Mary W. Jackson * Annabella R. Jenkins * Kate Jeter * Florence Jodzies * Barbara Johns * Julia Johns *

Mary Johnston Mary Johnston (November 21, 1870 – May 9, 1936) was an American novelist and women's rights advocate from Virginia. She was one of America's best selling authors during her writing career and had three silent films adapted from her novels. Jo ...

* Mary Johnston-Brittain * Georgeanna Jones * Thomasina E. Jordan * Ona Judge * May L. Keller * Emma V. Kelley *

Christine Herter Kendall Christine Herter Kendall (August 25, 1890 – June 22, 1981) was an American painter. Biography The daughter of physician Christian Archibald Herter and Susan Dows Herter, she was born in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. She had an older and ...

* Lucille Chaffin Kent * Elizabeth Key * Ellen G. Kidd * Alice Kyle *

Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) Note: Some sources report her birthday as August 2, 1920, vs. August 1, 1920. was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line ...

Anna Maria Lane Anna Maria Lane (about 1755–1810) was the first documented female soldier from Virginia to fight with the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. She dressed as a man and accompanied her husband on the battlefield, and was later award ...

* Orra Henderson Moore Gray Langhorne * Irene Leache *

Edna Lewis Edna Regina Lewis (April 13, 1916 – February 13, 2006) was a renowned American chef, teacher, and author who helped refine the American view of Southern cooking. She championed the use of fresh, in season ingredients and characterized Southern ...

* Elizabeth D. Lewis * Matilda Lindsay * Judith Lomax * Rebecca Lovenstein * Louise O'Connor Lucas * Mary Tyler Cheek McClenahan * Dorothy S. McDiarmid * Sarah Madden *

Dolley Madison Dolley Todd Madison (née Payne; May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the wife of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. She was noted for holding Washington social functions in which she invited members of bo ...

* Pauline F. Maloney * Miriam D. Mann * Bessie N. Marshall * Lucy Randolph Mason * Vivian Carter Mason * Amaza Lee Meredith * Alice duPont Mills * Jane Minor * Nannie J. Minor *

Lottie Moon Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon (December 12, 1840 – December 24, 1912) was a Southern Baptist missionary to China with the Foreign Mission Board who spent nearly 40 years (1873–1912) living and working in China. As a teacher and evangelist ...

Undine Smith Moore Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore (25 August 1904 – 6 February 1989), the "Dean of Black Women Composers", was an American composer and professor of music in the twentieth century. Moore was originally trained as a classical pianist, but devel ...

* Georgia Weston Morgan *

Irene Morgan Irene Amos Morgan (April 9, 1917 – August 10, 2007), later known as Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, was an African-American woman from Baltimore, Maryland, who was arrested in Middlesex County, Virginia, in 1944 under a state law imposing racial segreg ...

* Mary-Cooke Branch Munford * Elizabeth Nottingham * Opossunoquonuske * Elizabeth L. Otey * Mary Morton Parsons * Nina K. Peace * Mary Peake * Rebekah Peterkin * Marian Poe *

Theresa Pollak Theresa Pollak (August 13, 1899 – September 18, 2002) was an American artist and art educator born in Richmond, Virginia. She was a nationally known painter, and she is largely credited with the founding of Virginia Commonwealth University's ...

* Amelia E. P. Pride * Orleana Puckett * Caroline F. Putnam *

Mary Randolph Mary Randolph (August 9, 1762 – January 23, 1828) was a Southern American cook and author, known for writing ''The Virginia House-Wife; Or, Methodical Cook'' (1824), one of the most influential housekeeping and cook books of the 19th century. ...

* Jessie M. Rattley * Eudora Ramsay Richardson * Isabel Rogers *

Wané Roonseraw Edith Turner (ca. 1754 – February or March 1838), sometimes known as Edy Turner or Edie Turner, or by her personal name Wané Roonseraw, was a leader – often styled "chief" or "queen" – among the Nottoway people of Virginia in the eighteenth ...

* Dorothy Roy * Elizabeth Russell * Nellie Pratt Russell *

Marion duPont Scott Marion duPont Scott (May 3, 1894 – September 4, 1983) was a thoroughbred horsebreeder who operated a racing stable for both flat and steeplechase racing. She was the last private owner of Montpelier, the mansion and land estate of former Unite ...

Mary Wingfield Scott Mary Wingfield Scott (1895–1983) was an American historic preservationist who documented Richmond, Virginia neighborhoods and advocated for preservation over demolition. Biography Scott was born on July 30, 1895, in Richmond, Virginia. She at ...

* Eleanor P. Sheppard *

Grace Sherwood Grace White Sherwood (1660–1740), called the Witch of Pungo, is the last person known to have been convicted of witchcraft in Virginia. A farmer, healer, and midwife, she was accused by her neighbors of transforming herself into a cat, damag ...

* Catherine Filene Shouse * Henrietta Shuck * Jean Skipwith * Isabel Dodge Sloane * Louise J. Smith *

Anne Spencer Anne Bethel Spencer (born Bannister; February 6, 1882 – July 27, 1975) was an American poet, teacher, civil rights activist, librarian, and gardener. Though she lived outside New York City, the recognized center of the Harlem Renaissance, also ...

* Elizabeth Allen Smith * Annie Snyder * Ora B. Stokes * Kathryn H. Stone * Queena Stovall * Mary C. Stowers * Alice Jackson Stuart * Kate Peters Sturgill *

Evelyn Reid Syphax The Syphax family is a prominent American family in the Washington, DC area. A part of the African-American upper class, the family is descended from Charles Syphax and Mariah Carter Syphax, both born into slavery. She was the daughter of an ens ...

* Elizabeth N. Tompkins * Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy * Lucile Barrow Turner * Lila Meade Valentine * Elizabeth Van Lew * Mary B. Wade * Mabel Lee Walton * Melissa Warfield * Laura Martin Wheelwright *

Edith Bolling Wilson Edith Wilson ( Bolling, formerly Galt; October 15, 1872 – December 28, 1961) was the first lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921 and the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson. She married the widower Wilson in December 1915, during hi ...

* Jean Wood * Helen Wood * Temperance Flowerdew Yeardley * Martha Anne Woodrum Zillhardt

References

External links

*
Virginia Women's Monument Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia Women's Monument Buildings and structures in Richmond, Virginia Monuments and memorials in Virginia Monuments and memorials to women 2019 sculptures Outdoor sculptures in Virginia