A working model for the statues of Helen Keller, on the left, and the Rosa Parks, on the right, presented at the Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission meeting on Oct. 15, 2024. (Screenshots/Alander Rocha)
The Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission Tuesday approved inscriptions for plaques on statues of Helen Keller and Rosa Parks planned for the Alabama State Capitol.
The plaque for the Keller statue will say she became deaf and blind after a childhood illness but that she went on to become a speaker and writer who “championed civil liberties and the rights of women, workers, and those with disabilities.”
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope,” a quote from Keller, will be included at the bottom.
A design of the Helen Keller statue to be installed on the Alabama Capitol grounds presented to the Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission on Oct. 15, 2024. (Screenshot/Alander Rocha)
The plaque for Parks will include a reference to her activism training at the Highlander Folk School, which provided leadership training to civil rights activists in the South, and her refusal to comply with segregation laws on a city bus on Dec. 1, 1955, that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the modern civil rights movement.
The plaque will also include a quote from Parks, which will read, “To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step.”
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“It does inform that she also was trained in activism, so I thought it was important that that fact be included,” said Rev. Agnes Lover, a member of the commission.
Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, chair of the commission, and Annie Butrus, a Birmingham artist and member of the commission, have been in discussion with the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind and the Alabama Association for the Deaf for ideas on how to make the plaques more inclusive. Butrus said the commission is exploring the inclusion of Braille, American Sign Language symbols, and potentially a QR code that will link to further educational resources.
“That’s going to be a really wonderful way to further educate our community and share all that Helen Keller was a pioneer for,” Butrus said.
Lover asked the commission to consider mentioning Keller’s Presidential Medal of Freedom on the plaque, adding, “it’s such a high honor for an American citizen.”
“I personally think that that should be included because that’s not something that is just handed out. That is a very prestigious type of an award,” she said.
Jay Warren, an Oregon-based artist, said the Helen Keller statue is in its final stages of development. He said the foundry process would take six to seven months, and he said it could be ready for installation in the spring if it stays on schedule, but there is still no timeline for when the statues will be unveiled.
“If these look good to you guys, the next step is to 3D scan the statue and make the patterns for the bronze foundry for casting,” Warren said.
Raymond James, a lawyer representing the commission, gave an update for Julie Knight, the Georgia-based artist who is designing the Parks statue, said the statue is in the foundry phase but that Knight did not provide a timeline.
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