Mary McLeod Bethune

On July 13, 2022, a commanding marble statue-11 feet tall atop a five-foot pedestal and weighing more than 6,000 pounds-of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune replaced the statue of an obscure Confederate general who had represented Florida since 1922 in the 100-statue National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol. Bethune is the first Black person, male or female, and one of only a few women to represent any state, each of which gifts two statues to the collection in honor of persons notable in the state's history. Bethune joins other four other Black Americans honored in the Capitol: Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Sojourner Truth.