Central Park tour to honor women of city’s history
Women’s History Month arrives this year with three special guests in Central Park.
A recently unveiled statue honoring suffragists Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (photo) serves as the centerpiece in an upcoming tour of the Manhattan oasis focused on the city’s trailblazing women from across the centuries.
“This city would look drastically different without the efforts of women,” said Ashley Whited, the Urban Park Ranger who will lead the tour. “It’s a history that deserves the light being shone on it.”
The Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument made its debut on Aug. 26, marking the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving the vote to America’s women. But Whited noted the tour will touch on an assortment of prominent female activists in various fields.
“Mary Tyler Moore was an environmental activist, advocating for the restoration of red-tailed hawks in the park,” she said, referencing the actor’s successful 2004 effort to save a nest used by hawks Pale Male and Lola after the avian domicile on her Fifth Ave. building was briefly dismantled by the co-op board.
And expect mention of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, another Fifth Ave. resident who fought successfully to save the Beaux Arts landmark Grand Central Terminal from the wrecking ball back in 1975.
The park’s reservoir, with its well-worn jogging track once run by the former First Lady, was named for her in 1994.
The event is set for Saturday, with attendees chosen by lottery because of the pandemic.
This year’s tour comes just seven months after the debut of the Pioneers Monument, the first statue to depict nonfictional women inside the park’s 843 acres since its inception in 1858. Sculptor Meredith Bergman created the work, showing the three women in discussion, with some of the funding provided by the sale of Girl Scout cookies.
Whited, 27, and originally from Youngstown, Ohio, attended the debut event for the 14-foot tall bronze monument.
“To see the passion and joy and sense of completion permeating the space was something I won’t forget,” she said. “This is all to get into the layered history of women in New York City.”
The tour will also stop at the “Angel of the Waters,” the iconic 19th century centerpiece of the Bethesda Fountain and Terrace. The 8-foot tall bronze spirit was unveiled on June 1, 1873, with its creator Emma Stebbins becoming the first woman artist ever commissioned for artwork by the city.
The angel was featured prominently in Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Angels in America,” adding another layer of history to its heritage.
And Stebbins herself was gay, becoming the partner of actress Charlotte Cushman and exchanging vows unrecognized at the time.
“It may sound cheesy, but we try to create a sense of connection that is true and prominent in the moment,” said Whited. “You may leave the program, but hopefully the program doesn’t leave you.”