The statue – which will be the first of an African American woman to be placed in the Capitol — will be unveiled next Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Statuary Hall, the exhibition space that sits just south of the Capitol Rotunda.
“As you know, most statues in the Capitol are donated by the individual states,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently wrote in a letter inviting Obama to the unveiling. “This tribute, however, was unanimously authorized by the 109th Congress.”
They added: “Indeed, this is a national statue and this ceremony will be a national moment, an occasion to recount a watershed event in our history and reaffirm our capacity to confront injustice and lift each other up.”
