The National Statuary Hall on Wednesday got its first state-commissioned statue of a Black American as Mary McLeod Bethune of Florida took her place at the US Capitol in Washington, honoured for her work as an educator and civil rights activist.
The state of Ms Bethune replaces a statue of a minor Confederate general named Edmund Kirby Smith who was one of the last to surrender following the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865. Mr Smith’s statue was removed last year.
