A statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune will soon join the statue of John Gorrie at the US Capitol.
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was an influential educator, leader and civil rights activist who became one of Florida’s and our nation’s most influential leaders.
She advised U.S. Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt
On Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis sent a letter to the Architect of the U.S. Capitol officially requesting the replacement of the statue of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith in National Statuary Hall with the statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
Kirby Smith's statue is being removed as part of a broader program of removing confederate symbols – it has been in the US Capitol since 1914.
Bethune will represent the first African American to have a state-commissioned statue in National Statuary Hall.
The announcement coincides with the 144th anniversary of Dr. McLeod Bethune’s birthday.
The statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune is slated to be completed and moved to National Statuary Hall in 2020.
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