D.C. will get a second statue in the U.S. Capitol, putting it on par with the states, each of which is allotted two statues in the building under federal law, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said Monday.
The District’s statue of Pierre L’Enfant — which Norton said was commissioned over a decade ago — will be unveiled on Feb. 28.
“We have made historic progress on D.C. statehood this Congress, and the unveiling of D.C.’s second statue in the Capitol is the latest recognition by the House that D.C. deserves to be a state,” Norton said in a statement.
“I am grateful to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Committee on House Administration Chair Zoe Lofgren for accepting D.C.’s gift of the L’Enfant statue and for their support of D.C. statehood and D.C. equality. I am especially pleased that the statue will be unveiled on Feb. 28, which will serve to inform the American public that D.C. residents were first denied congressional voting representation and self-government when the Organic Act was enacted on Feb. 27, 1801.”
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the public won’t be able to attend the ceremony, but it will be livestreamed.
The House passed Norton’s D.C. statehood bill twice, in 2020 and in 2021. It has yet to pass in the Senate.
