Leaders in Equality: The Portrait Monument

Duration:

2 minutes, 15 seconds

Ranger Lorne has the story of the Portrait Monument installed at the U.S. Capitol on February 15, 1921. The sculpture shows three founding mothers of the woman suffrage movement: Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The work was commissioned by the National Woman's Party and sculpted by Adelaide Johnson. After a grand ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, the Portrait Monument was moved to the underground crypt, where is stayed hidden for 76 years.

Hallie Quinn Brown, president of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, attended a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda hosted by the National Woman's Party. At this ceremony, thousands of women gathered to honor the founders of the suffrage movement and witness the unveiling of the Portrait Monument.

This day of jubilant celebration was followed by years of hard work. Highlighting the fact that equality had not yet been achieved, the monument would not remain in the rotunda of the Capitol. The next day, it was moved downstairs into the Capitol Crypt. Although the move was supposed to be temporary while a permanent home was designated, it would take 76 years and an act of congress before the statue would return to the Rotunda.

Learn more about the design of the Portrait Monument and the continued struggle for equality from the Architect of the Capitol. Read the article "African American Women and the Nineteenth Amendment" by Dr. Sharon Harley.