Contact: Colleen Roche or Kim Serafin (212) 788-2958
"Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most influential and pivotal figures in both American and New York history," said Mayor Giuliani. "She was a true humanitarian who was committed to public service and spoke out against any sort of discrimination. As she rose to prominence, Eleanor Roosevelt promoted women's rights, compassion for children and the underprivileged, and racial tolerance. In this way, the values, the issues and the concerns that she experienced living in New York became the values, the issues and the concerns for the nation."
Eleanor Roosevelt served with many civic organizations in New York, including the League of Women's Voters and the Women's City Club. She volunteered with the Junior League on the Lower East Side in the early days of this century, and alerted her husband to the plight of the settlement houses thirty years before the New Deal.
Mrs. Roosevelt became prominent in national politics during the 1924 Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden. Following her work during World War II, she became the United States delegate to the United Nations and chaired the United Nations' Commission on Human Rights where her hard work secured the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
Created by artist Penelope Jencks, the eight-foot high bronze and stone sculpture is flanked by three oak trees and surrounded by a low granite wall and benches. The entire southern gateway of Riverside Park, from 72nd to 74th Street, was re-landscaped through a public-private partnership with the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Fund and the City of New York.
The project was originally conceived by Herbert Zohn, now co-chair of the Eleanor Roosevelt Monument Fund. Eleanor Roosevelt is the first American woman for whom a statue has been commissioned for a City park.
Entertainment at the ceremony was provided by Tony-Award winning Broadway star Audra McDonald, who recently starred in "Master Class," the all women's jazz band Sherrie Maricle and DIVA (No Man's Band), and the Children's Aid Society Chorus.