Charles Sumner statue

Public Art : Charles Sumner statue

Sculptor : © Thomas Ball

Description :

Date Unveiled : 1878

Location : Mr Sumner can be found in the Public Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts.

Controversy : When Sumner died in 1874 a competition was announced to design a monument in honor of the outpoken abolitionist. The winner was local artist Anne Whitney but when they discovered she was a woman they were so appalled they disqualified her. Reason? They believed it inappropriate for a female to sculpt a man's legs. Hmm, and pray tell what of a man's genitals? So much for Sumner's fight for equality!

Whitney had the laugh last 27 years later when her original sculpture ( with a few slight changes)was cast in bronze and erected in Harvard Square. She was by this time in her early eighties.