A state panel has selected a sculptor to create a statue of teenage civil rights heroine Barbara Rose Johns to replace the Robert E. Lee statue Virginia removed from the U.S. Capitol 19 months ago.
The panel selected the sculptor in executive session Thursday during a meeting at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture after two finalists had presented miniature versions of their proposed visions of the statue.
Citing state procurement rules, members of the commission declined to reveal the chosen sculptor's name until the state has a signed contract. The panel said it will not extend a contract until the state again signs off on nearly $500,000 in as-yet-unspent appropriations for the project.
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That budget covers the entire process, from selection of the artist to the sculptor's work process, rigging and transportation of the sculpture and the unveiling ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
As for the two sculptors' presentations, "We talked a lot about it and compared, but in the end it was unanimous," Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, a member of the panel, said after the meeting.
Ward noted that she was thrilled when the panel voted in December 2020 to select Johns for the honor. "I couldn't think it could get any more exciting, but it did today."
Ed Ayers, a historian and former president of the University of Richmond, said "It was a really positive, affirming day" and "people are really excited about the choice we made."
In December 2020 the panel - called The Commission For Historical Statues In The United States Capitol - voted to recommend to lawmakers that the state produce a statue of Johns to replace Virginia's statue of Lee that had stood at the U.S. Capitol for 111 years.
Johns was a 16-year-old student at Farmville’s Moton High School in 1951 when she led a student walkout to protest the students' substandard, segregated school facilities. The Prince Edward County case was rolled into Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled government-segregated public schools unconstitutional.
Johns went on to graduate from Drexel University, married, raised a family and worked as a librarian in Philadelphia, where she died in 1991.
Virginia lawmakers signed off on the panel's recommendation of Johns in 2021.
The Lee statue that Virginia removed from the U.S. Capitol is now on display at the museum as part of an exhibition called "The Lost Cause: Myths, Monuments and Murals."
One of the finalists to sculpt the Johns statue declined to identify himself after making his presentation to the committee Thursday, but briefly discussed his process.
He said he presented a scale model of his work and explained why he chose a particular pose. He stressed that such a work should be a collaborative process.
"I am not an artist that walks in and says 'This is what you should have,' " he said.
"This piece is not only going to be an important piece for the state of Virginia," he added.
"It is going to be one of the most visited sculptures in the Rotunda because it's of a child. And most of the visitors of the Capitol are children - so how appropriate is that?"
Virginia moved to replace its Lee statue from the U.S. Capitol in 2020, a year of reckoning about racial injustice. A Minneapolis police officer's murder of George Floyd had sparked protests in Richmond and around the country.
Demonstrators toppled several Confederate statues in Richmond before city officials removed a number of remaining Confederate statues from Monument Avenue. Then-Gov. Ralph Northam ultimately prevailed in a court fight and ordered removal of the state's statue of Lee that had towered over Monument Avenue for more than 130 years.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently appointed Ann McLean, a defender of Confederate monuments, to the Board of Historic Resources.
Each state contributes two statues to the Statuary Hall collection at the U.S. Capitol. Virginia’s other statue depicts George Washington. Florida recently replaced one of its statues with a likeness of educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. Arkansas plans to switch out one of its two statues for a depiction of civil rights activist Daisy Bates.
https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/state-panel-picks-sculptor-to-create-barbara-johns-statue-for-u-s-capitol/article_27f73ef0-9540-5e5b-8f26-9de3566ee5b2.html
2022-07-21 19:06:00Z
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