THE BOSTON WOMEN´S MEMORIAL
AS TALKING STATUES
The Boston Women’s Memorial is a trio of sculptures commemorating Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams, and Lucy Stone.
The idea of a memorial to women was first discussed in 1992 in recognition of the under-representation of women among Boston’s statues. A collaboration between the Boston Women’s Commission, the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee and the Massachusetts Historical Society, supported by Angela Menino, the mayor’s wife, developed it over the next twelve years.
The design competition was won by New York sculptor Meredith Bergmann. The memorial was unveiled on October 25, 2003, by the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino.
The sculptor of The Boston Women’s Memorial, Meredith Bergmann
The statues present the women at street level, rather than on a plinth, although plinths are used as part of the artwork.
Stone, for example, is positioned using her plinth as an editorial desk, working on the Woman’s Journal, which she founded. Quotations from the women are inscribed on their plinths.
Local people regularly leave items at or on the statues — scarves around the figure’s necks in winter, a Boston Red Sox cap on one’s head when the team won the World Series in 2004.
The memorial is featured on the Ladies Walk of the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.
The Three women
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley was an enslaved African girl brought to Boston in 1761 who became the first published African American poet. Educated in the Wheatley household, she mastered English, Latin, and classical literature.
Her 1773 book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral made her an international literary figure and a powerful voice against slavery.
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams was an early American political thinker and the wife of President John Adams. Known for her sharp intellect and extensive correspondence, she advocated for women’s rights and education, famously urging her husband to “remember the ladies” when forming the new nation’s laws.
Her letters provide a vivid record of life and politics during the Revolutionary era.
Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone was a pioneering 19th-century American abolitionist and women’s rights advocate. She was the first woman in Massachusetts to earn a college degree and became a powerful orator against slavery and for women’s suffrage.
Stone also helped organize the first national women’s rights convention and later co-founded the Woman’s Journal, a key suffrage newspaper.
The strong female voices
behind the Boston Women's Memorial
The recordings are provided by three prominent women in government: Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell as former First Lady and abolitionist Abigail Adams, Representative Ayanna Pressley as formerly enslaved and published poet Phillis Wheatley, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu as women’s rights advocate Lucy Stone.
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Listen to the Boston Women's Memorial
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The location of The Boston Women's Memorial
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