Page 13 - SISTERS IN MOTION FALL 2021

A TRIBUTE TO A SHERO
Senator Thurston, BCAC Soror Dawn Thurston, Karen McCray, and Attorney Johnny McCray at the unveiling at the Daytona Times.
UNVEILING STATUE CEREMONY SENATOR PERRY THURSTON
It was an honor to attend the unveiling of the statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune in Daytona Beach on October 11, 2021, which was a meaningful, relevant, artistic, social and civil event for Florida and U.S. history.
The statue has captured the majesty, humility, compassion,
spirit and divinely inspired vision of Dr. Mary MeLeod Bethune in an 11-foot-tall marble statue.
With this remarkable statue, there were two historic firsts: 1.) Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was honored as the first African- American represented in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall; 2.) Nilda Comas, a native Floridian, is the first Hispanic to have a sculpture displayed in that great hall.
In 2018, I filed and passed the bill to replace the statue of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith with a statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
The National Statuary Hall Campaign Kickoff was held on April 20, 2019, at Bethune- Cookman University to raise the estimated $400,000 needed to fund the installation of the statues. On February 2, 2022, the statue will be transported from Daytona Beach, Florida to Washington, D.C. Following the ceremony, the same artist, Nilda Comas, will sculpt an identical bronze statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune to be installed in Riverfront Park near Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard.
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune resided in Washington D.C. and Daytona Beach, Florida where she founded Bethune–Cookman College, later renamed Bethune-Cookman University.
Senator Perry Thurston with Soror Yolonda Cash-Jackson with a copy of the Legislation (SB-472) to create the statue.
SISTERS IN MOTION PAGE 13
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