White Intern Inspires Drive For First Capitol Hill Tribute To Minority Women

Jet, July 9, 2001

A White intern for a Black congressman started a movement on Capitol Hill that could result in the first tribute to minority women in the statue-lined halls of Congress.

Intern Jennifer Luciano, 21, noticed that there were no statues of any Blacks in the Capitol's historic walkways and simply mentioned this fact to her boss, Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL).

Nothing she said to the lawmaker since she joined his staff created such a response. In fact, the Loyola University student was mentioned in the Roll Call newspaper, the No. 1 publication on the Hill, as a candidate who "may leave her mark on the Rotunda."

From her brief observation, the Chicago congressman brought together a group and decided to correct the serious omission.

Without taking any more time, the lawmakers introduced a resolution calling for the creation of a statue to commemorate the contribution of minority women's suffrage movements.

The bill designated the Rotunda as the site for the new tribute, notwithstanding the fact that there is one statue of three White women suffrage heroines already located in the area.

The current statue was placed there in 1967 and it took 80 years to be brought up from the basement. Honored are Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott.

Soon there were 83 co-sponsors of the measure in the House, all but three of them Democrats.

The only current tribute to an American Black in the Rotunda is a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If the bill is passed, the Architect of the Capitol will begin contractual relations for the design and construction of the statue. A three-person commission will decide the persons on the statue, taking into consideration the requirement for an African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-Pacific American, a Jewish-American and an American Indian to be used.