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Nilda Comas knew she’d be an artist from a very young age, and now she’ll be the first Hispanic master sculptor to create a statue for the US National Statuary Hall. She describes her journey, from a childhood in Puerto Rico to coming to Italy and learning carving skills from the artisans in Pietrasanta.

Following the shocking Charleston church shooting in 2015, the State of Florida decided to change one of the two sculptures representing them in the National Statuary Hall in Washington. They chose to honour Dr Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, philanthropist and civil rights activist. Then, from 1600 entries, Nilda Comas won the commission to create the statue in marble.

Nilda explains how creating a statue of Dr Mary McLeod Bethune was such an extraordinary commission for her. Bethune was born the 15th of 17 children in 1875, in Mayesville, South Carolina to former slaves. As a young child she became eager to learn how to read and write, and soon education – for herself, her siblings and other African Americans – became her key ambition.

Mary McLeod Bethune founded a school for African American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, which later became Bethune-Cookman University.

In 1911, Bethune opened the first black hospital in Daytona, Florida. She became a friend to Eleanor Roosevelt and subsequently an adviser to president Franklin D Roosevelt in what was unofficially known as his Black Cabinet. Bethune was the only woman of colour at the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945.

This episode follows the creation of this special commission from Florida’s decision to change their statue, Nilda winning the commission, finding the stone, the process of creating the sculpture, through to the moment it was unveiled in Italy in July 2021. All against the challenges of the last three years.

After the statue was unveiled in Pietrasanta in July 2021 it was shipped to Florida and went on view in Daytona Beach, before taking a short tour to Bethune’s birthplace in Mayesville, South Carolina. Finally it will make its way to the US Capitol for inauguration in the summer of 2022.

We hear from some of the 54 visitors who came to Pietrasanta from the USA for this special event and hear what the African American statue means to them.

Contributors
Thanks to all the contributors to this episode:

• Nilda Comas, master sculptor
• Nancy Lohman, chair of the Dr Mary McLeod Bethune Statuary Fund
• Derrick Henry, mayor of Daytona Beach
• Dr Hiram Powell, interim president of Bethune-Cookman University
• Rev Thom Shafer of Fort Myers
• Kathy Castor, Florida Democratic US representative
• Shonterika Hall, Bethune-Cookman alumni
• Khalil Bradley, Bethune-Cookman alumni
• Hannah Randolph, Bethune-Cookman alumni
• Sarah Slaughter, Bethune-Cookman alumni
• Jacari W Harris, former B-CU student government president and social justice activist
• Yolanda Cash Jackson, lawyer and lobbyist.

Links

• nildacomas.com
• Nilda on Facebook
• Member of the National Sculpture Society
• Giancarlo Burrati clay studios 
• Cervietti marble studios
• Franco del Chiaro foundry
• Documentary film excerpt on Mary McLeod Bethune from Bethune Statuary Fund

Credits
Sound edit and design: Guy Dowsett

Sound recordist: Andrea Gobbi @magazzenosoundproject and @andreagobbi_music

Narrative consultant: Mike Axinn at One to One Box

Music: all courtesy of Audio Network

• The Mist On The River, 3424/3 James Taylor
• Stuff Of Life, 2017/9 Philip Sheppard
• Welcome To Utopia, 3110/2 Philip Sheppard