BUFFALO, N.Y. — Currently, Erie County cites just two public monuments to women in Buffalo, but a group is trying to change that. The Erie County Commission on the Status of Women and a steering committee are behind an effort to pay tribute to some of Western New York's women trailblazers.
The Trailblazing Women of WNY monument project will be comprised of a series of statues and plaques dedicated to pioneering women in our region and also feature an online educational component. It's part community collaboration and part public art plan aimed at filling a void.
"Western New York reflects the larger national and really international narrative around the lack of representation of women in public spaces," said Karen King PhD, executive director for the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women and Commissioner for Public Advocacy. "Here in Western New York so many women have been in involved in the growth and development of [our region]."
The first three women to be honored with a statue are:
- Louise Blanchard Bethune, who was the first professional woman architect in the United States
- Civil rights leader, preservationist and educator Mary Burnett Talbert
- Seneca leader and faith keeper Geraldine Sid-tah Green
"What's interesting is that while there are no books or histories written about her, she played a significant role in the continuation of our culture and most especially, our language," steering committee member Dr. Lori Quigley said of Green. "Throughout her entire life, she was one who was known as a revered person for teaching language freely for anyone who wanted to learn it. She was one who was known as somebody who was one of our wisdom keepers, somebody who was very involved in the traditional teachings of the Haudenosaunee or the people of the longhouse."
The steering committee members are women with a background in education, public art curation, and of course, women's history.
"What a community and culture memorializes says a lot about who they are. So who do we want to be? Who do we want to represent? Not just to our initial or immediate community but the larger world. We want to be a community that embraces and acknowledges and values the contributions women have made in our lives," said King.
Another woman who was part of the project referred Quigley to the committee because of her background as a Seneca Nation member. She in turn has invited several indigenous women to take part in the project.
"We are all still here. We also have a pretty significant population of Native Americans in Erie County, so for that reason, I think it's critically important that we are included. We are part of the history of this region," said Quigley.
The search is on for artists, and fundraising is underway. They have a little more than half of the $500,000 needed for the first three statues.
They will be placed outside the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library downtown — in the shadow of the Lafayette Hotel, which was one of Bethune's projects. It was also once Seneca land, so the connection to history is deep.
The site is being prepped this year, and they hope to unveil the first statues early next year.