Statue of Mary McLeod Bethune

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A plaster statue of Mary McLeod Bethune. Bethune is depicted standing, with a smiling expression on her face. She wears a graduation cap, stole and gown, which she wears open over a ruffled shirt and smooth skirt, along with heeled shoes, and a pearl necklace and earrings. Bethune rests her right hand on a cane with carved decorative motifs including a lizard climbing up the bottom half. In her left hand, she holds a rose that is painted black. The back hem of her graduation gown rests upon a stack of seven books. This plaster statue is a model used to create the marble statue in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol and there are multiple machinetta points on each side of the statue created by nails and plaster that were used as part of the replication process.

Explore Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture ↗