A monument to honor Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman ever elected to serve in Congress, is still having its design tweaked before it gains final approval to be constructed in Prospect Park.
During a July 11 meeting at Assemblymember Brian Cunningham’s district office, a mockup of the 32-foot-tall monument, created by artists Amanda Williams and Olalekan B. Jeyifous, was shown. The monument and a new park welcome center with information about the famed politician are set to be a featured gateway into Prospect Park at its Parkside entrance.
Bedford-Stuyvesant’s late, great former Congressmember Shirley Chisholm came to political leadership in 1968, she represented New York’s 12th Congressional District. Chisholm’s
monument is part of former NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray’s She Built NYC program, created in 2018 to boost the representation of women in statues across the city.