Friday 4 November 2016

franchisement

There’s a rather austere neo-classic sculpture now kept in the US Capitol (finally being put on display rather than being hidden in the building’s crypt as it was for the first few decades after it was presented to Congress) that features the busts of three pioneers that helped secure the right to vote for women—anachronistically not until 1921. The likenesses suffragettes Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott appear as an ensemble evoking the colossal monument at Mount Rushmore but there’s obviously an unfinished rough bit. Although the artist’s original intent is unknown (possibly signifying that the job of achieving universal suffrage was not done), legend holds that this space is reserved for the first female president.