In 1996, the Massachusetts legislature recognized that the State House art collection included only a handful of images of women. They recommended that a new work of art be created to honor the contributions of women to public life in Massachusetts. Now permanently installed on a large wall just outside Doric Hall, the work depicts six women selected by an advisory committee to represent all the women who dedicated themselves to improving life in the Commonwealth. The women are: mental health activist Dorothea Dix (1802-87); suffragist and peace activist Florence Luscomb (1887-1985); labor activist Mary Kenney O’Sullivan (1864-1943); abolitionist Sarah Parker Remond (1814-94); activist for African American rights and suffragist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924); suffragist and abolitionist Lucy Stone (1818-93). The two-toned marble bas relief panel designed by artists Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Susan Sellers includes words written by the women etched on the stone and bronze busts cast from period photographs.
