First Wave Statue Exhibit

"The First Wave" statue exhibit in the lobby of the park visitor center. Elizabeth Cady Stanton is at the far left.

NPS Photo

"Who are these people?"

The statues in the lobby of the Visitor Center represent the "first wave" of women’s rights activists in the United States: more than 300 women and men organized and participated in the first Women’s Rights Convention. The sculpture includes statues of nine named people: Mary Ann and Thomas M’Clintock, Lucretia and James Mott, Jane and Richard Hunt, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Martha Wright, and eleven “anonymous” participants who represent the men and women who attended the Convention but did not sign the Declaration of Sentiments.

The Artist

Lloyd Lillie, Professor Emeritus, Boston University, and his assistants Victoria Guerina and Hilary Hutchinson sculpted the statues out of clay. Photographs and live models were used to create the movement, facial expressions, and size of the statues. In a foundry owned and operated by a woman, the figures were cast in bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. The weight process caused the statues to lose five percent of their size. The sculpture was commissioned by the National Park Service for Women’s Rights National Historical Park Visitor Center, which opened in August, 1993.

 

Did You Know?

Sculptors Victoria Guerina and Hilary Hutchinson, who assisted Lloyd Lillie on the statue, make appearances in the group! They stand on either side of Martha C. Wright: Hutchinson appears to be speaking to her, and Guerina is facing away holding a fan.

 

The Original Convention Days

The 1848 Women's Rights Convention

 

Frequently-Asked Questions

Which one is Susan B. Anthony?

A great question: none! Susan B. Anthony was not present at the Seneca Falls Convention, so she does not appear in the group.

Were they really that short in real life?

The pouring and cooling process of bronze meant that the statues lost about 5% of their size between the original clay sculpts and the final cast. However, not all of the figures' heights are proportional. Lucretia Mott, the shortest of the group in real life at about 5 feet tall, is approximately the correct size. However, Frederick Douglass, who stood at 6 feet 2 inches in life, comes in just under 6 feet in statue form. The decision to alter the scale of the men in the group serves to make the women appear larger and more prominent.

 

What was the "First Wave?"

The term "first wave" comes from the idea that there have been multiple "waves" of the women's rights movement in America and throughout the world. The term came about in the late 1960's as a contrast to the term "second-wave feminism," which dominated the 1960's through early 1990's, and emphasized women's personal freedoms and social (rather than civil) inequalities. The time period of the First Wave is more loosely defined, encompassing most of the 19th Century through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

The timelines that define these movements are created in hindsight; historians and scholars continue to debate what years begin and end each period. Though some may argue the Second Wave never ended, others propose that there are four distinct waves, with the fourth being current.

When you visit Women's Rights National Historical Park, you may notice that the ways in which some exhibits discuss certain topics may sound outdated. As the study of the women's rights movement evolves, so do the ways we talk about it. When the visitor center was dedicated in 1993, the dominant women's rights movement at the time was the Second Wave. Therefore, many exhibits discuss the lives and accomplishments of women in the 20th Century. Today, however, we recognize that our primary area of focus is on the First Wave: the women and men who paved the way for later movements and progress.

For information about the later women's rights movement, visit our sister park, Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument.