Monuments of powerful female leaders will soon be going up all across New York City as a part of the "She Built NYC" initiative.
New York City first lady Chirlane McCray and former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen were at the Brooklyn Museum Wednesday to announce plans for forthcoming statues. The initiative will have a statue up in all five boroughs.
Following last year's announcement of a Shirley Chisholm statue going up in Brooklyn, there are plans for monuments of Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias in the Bronx, Katherine Walker in Staten Island, Elizabeth Jennings Graham in Manhattan and Billie Holiday in Queens.
McCray and Glen believe honoring these women and their accomplishments will continue to show young women they can do whatever they set their minds to.
The first five monuments are the first of many the initiative hopes to build.
"I personally will not be happy until we are 51 percent of all the monuments in your city, so that's going to take a long time, but this was definitely intended to be an ongoing process," says Glen.
Artist selection for each of the statues will begin by the end of the year and the monuments are expected to be built by 2022.
NYC first lady, former deputy mayor announce new monuments as part of She Built NYC initiative