Sculptor Tom Tsuchiya with committee members Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney and Dot Christenson chat at the Essex Studios in Photo provided.
By Linda Wright
Herald Contributor
Human Rights Icon Marian Spencer will be honored with a statue in her honor, commissioned by the Woman’s City Club. It will be located at Smale Park, at 166 W. Mehring Way downtown, just inside the park’s entrance. The Woman’s City Club kicked off a fundraising campaign to build the statue this week.
The statue to honor Mrs. Spencer will be the first known statue in the City of Cincinnati to honor a specific noteworthy woman. The statue is scheduled to be finished June 2020, to commemorate Mrs. Spencer’s 100th birthday.
“The City of Cincinnati has a number of statues within the city borders. Some are politicians, many are military leaders, some are educators – but not one is a woman,” said Alice Schneider, Woman’s City Club member and chair of the Marian Spencer Statue Committee. “We have found a woman we believe would be the perfect person to break this barrier – local Civil Rights Icon Marian Spencer.”
Her accomplishments include: spearheading the integration of Coney Island; fighting to open University of Cincinnati dormitories to Black students; and her election as the first African American woman on Cincinnati City Council.
Committee members are: Alice Schneider, Dot Christensen, Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, Arzell Nelson, Susan Noonan, Brewster Rhoads, Aurelia Simmons and Mary Wells.
To donate to the fundraising effort, send your contribution to Marian A. Spencer Statue Fund, c/o Woman’s City Club, 103 William Howard Taft Road, Cinti., OH, 45219, or visit www.womanscityclub.org.