NEW YORK (PIX11) — Only a handful of the 150 statues on public display in New York City are of real women. Slowly that is changing.
In honor of Women’s History Month, a group of women went on a bike tour around the city to see some hidden gems that honor women you may not know about.
At Louise Nevelson Plaza, participants in the Women’s History Bike Tour learned about the sculptor who led the feminist art movement by creating dark, monumental and totem-like pieces.
“I passed by there so many times, and I never really never stopped to take a look at it,” said Samantha Seda, a bike rider on the tour.
The next stop on the Women’s History Bike Tour was a small Marie Curie plaque, which has been hidden in the shadow of City Hall since 1934.
“You have Marie Curie, who won two Nobel Prizes, and all she has is a small plaque in City Hall Park,” said Brianna Johnson, the leader of the Women’s History Bike Tour. “It’s important to recognize those women as well.”
In Central Park, Johnson described the Angel of the Waters sculpture at Bethesda Fountain designed by Emma Stebbins in 1868.
“Emma Stebbins was one of the first women commissioned to do a sculpture in Central Park,” Johnson told her tour group.
By the time the bike tour ended, cyclists had seen the statue of Eleanor Roosevelt at 72nd Street and Riverside Park and a Union Square plaque about the 146 women who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.
“I just started picking up biking around New York City and I thought it was a great way to learn about history,” said Andreana Occes, another participant in the bike tour.
“There’s just a little mention if you know where to look but not a lot of fanfare,” said Nina Sabghir, another bike rider.
The Women’s History Bike Tour was free for members of Bike New York as they prepare for their Five Boro Bike Tour in May.
