It started inauspiciously: a New York Times article published the day after Thanksgiving in 2009, reporting that Ohio was going to replace the statue of pro-slavery Governor Allen in National Statuary Hall with the statue of another famous Ohioan. Several suggestions were listed but not a single woman was mentioned.

The omission of women continued with a Newspapers in Education piece intended for students entitled, “Who should be Ohio’s next statue?” The piece written by history teacher Paul LaRue, and profiled five of the potential candidates from Ohio: the Wright Brothers, Dummy Hoy, James Ashley, Thomas Edison, and Jesse Owens. Obviously all of the candidates profiled were men.

Currently, there are ten finalists for Allen’s spot in National Statuary Hall. Three of these finalists are women: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Taylor Upton, and Judith Resnik. Newspaper coverage of the race for National Statuary Hall has been abundant. But few articles have profiled the women candidates, and little attention is paid them in pieces that discuss the race in general.

Finally someone has spoken up. Thanks to David McClurkin for noticing the paucity of women both in National Statuary Hall and in the newspaper coverage related to Ohio’s new statue:

Don’t slight women pioneers in Statuary Hall competition
Published: Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Ohio’s historic role in building the nation has included countless pioneering and pacesetting women. Why is this not seen in Statuary Hall?

The Plain Dealer’s disappointing failure to mention all but one of the three women nominees (Editorials, Saturday) illustrates a myopic view that overlooks representation of more than half the population. Ohio’s three women nominees’ lives spanned almost 175 years in our history, opening opportunities for America’s minorities and women to succeed.

By picking one of these three women — Judith Resnik, Harriet Beecher Stowe or Harriet Taylor Upton — Ohio could again be a trailblazer for undoing a still standing social ill: the lack of equal visibility for women as important role models for all our children and the public. Women were then and are still pioneers in America.

David K. McClurkin, Beachwood

2 Responses

1. David in Ohio says:
   

   For any who wish, here is an item I published in Dayton: March 18, 2010 6:57 PM

   Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Taylor Upton brought to all of us freedoms that had previous to them been unavailable to the majority of Americans. It took decades after their pioneering work to realize the abolition of slavery and the enfranchisement of women in America. The lives of these two women spanned over 130 years of the evolution of this nation and prepared the way for so many to succeed since. Judith Resnik represents opportunities realized and frontiers forged based on the example set by the other two women. Born four years after Harriet Upton died, she represents a next generation of renewed awareness of what the earlier women stood for. Her death 24 years ago etches her in all our minds as recent proof positive of the absolute ability and significance of Ohio’s pacesetting women through the ages.

   June 9th, 2010 at 4:11 pm EST
2. David in Ohio says:
   

   I must add that the baseline letter on Ohio’s quest for a statue is by Dr. Long at the start of it all. It has points made that still resonate:
   http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2010/01/the_case_for_choosing_a_histor.html

   June 9th, 2010 at 4:18 pm EST