FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 14, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT: 

e: dan.kalmowitz@mail.house.gov

c: 347.387.5123

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Robin Kelly (IL-02), and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, issued the following statement regarding the statue unveiling of the educator, philanthropist, and civil rights icon, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune:

“At long last, our nation has taken the historic step to honor a Black American in our Capitol’s Statuary Hall – and we struggle to imagine a more fitting recipient of that recognition than the incomparable Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. The daughter of enslaved people, Dr. Bethune rose above the impossible hardships of hatred and oppression to devote her life towards providing better tomorrows for the countless young Black women and girls under her care. From her work as an educator at Bethune-Cookman College, a school she founded to deliver opportunity to those who had been most deprived of it, to her fierce and fearless activism at the dawn of the civil rights movement, Dr. Bethune’s remarkable legacy is evident in every corner of this country. It is our deep hope that this moment signifies our national commitment to remember stories like hers, rather than those of Confederate generals and traitors whose names should be long forgotten,” said the co-chairs. “Not only is Mary McLeod Bethune a hero to this country, she is a hero to each of us. And we are blessed and proud to see her statue rise in the Capitol.”

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