The Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority are teaming up to fund initiatives that honor the brave suffragettes of the 19th and early 20th centuries and celebrate their work and legacy.
Uplifting women’s advocacy is not new to Delta Sigma Theta. The 22 founders of the sorority are celebrated for their first public act, organizing participants for the Women’s Suffrage parade of 1913. All 22 of the organization’s founders attended with educational activist Mary Church Terrell.
“On that day, the women of Delta cemented their legacy as pioneers whose bravery would come to define Black social activism of the 20th century and it is our honor to welcome Delta Sigma Theta as a National Partner and to work together to continue that legacy by uplifting all women’s stories out of the footnotes of history and into our collective memory,” said Anna Laymon, president and CEO of the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation.
In honor of the sorority’s founding members, Elsie Cooke-Holmes, national president of Delta Sigma Theta, voted to donate $1 million to the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation to support the $75 million project.
“Our founders stood not only in the parade lines but at the forefront of change. This gift and our role as Ambassadors are a testament to our ongoing commitment to advocacy and education, ensuring the valor and stories of these courageous women continue to inspire generations. Together with the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation, we are not just preserving history—we are propelling it forward,” said Cooke-Holmes.
According to the organization’s website, the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation was authorized by Congress in Public Law 116-217 to lead the effort to fund, design, develop, and construct the Women’s Suffrage National Monument. The statue will serve as a lasting legacy of the longest political movement in American history and honor the generations of women who lobbied, marched, picketed, and protested in their decades-long fight for equality.
There are approximately 14 public artworks that honor African Americans in the District. This new statue would add to the tributes to Black life and culture in the nation’s capital. Dr. Thelma Daley, 16th National President of Delta Sigma Theta, said the new effort is timely.
“Delta’s imprint in making the Women’s Suffrage National Monument a reality is a tribute to all Black women whose names may not have made the pages in the history books, nor recognized from a podium,” said Daley. “Black women from all walks of life played a pivotal role in the passing and ratification of the 19th Amendment, and as Delta rises, they, too, will rise.”