After a hiccup last year in the Florida House, state lawmakers seem poised to send a statue of civil rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune to Washington D.C.
Sen. Perry Thurston (D-Fort Lauderdale) says the statue will take the place of confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith.
“I think that it represents a showing of Florida’s diversity, Florida’s strength and most importantly the best of Florida,” Thurston says.
Each state has two entries in statuary hall honoring state notables. Florida’s current figures are Smith and John Gorrie—an early innovator in air conditioning.
The proposal has one committee stop left in the House and Senate.
