Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s statue debuts at the U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON — An 11-foot marble statue of educator, activist and entrepreneur Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune will be unveiled at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday morning.

This is the first time a statue of an African American will represent a state in National Statuary Hall. Each state has two statues on display.

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The three-ton statue was sculpted by Florida artist Nilda Comas, the first Hispanic master sculptor chosen for the Statuary Hall State Collection.

Comas sculpted the statue in Pietrasanta, Italy, using a 11.5-ton block of statuario marble excavated from Michelangelo’s cave in the statuario marble in Tuscany.

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The statue was previously on display in Daytona Beach, where Bethune lived and founded Bethune-Cookman University.

The statue of Bethune, who was born to former slaves, replaced that of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, who was born in Florida.

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