Women

This painting depicts the ceremony in which Pocahontas, daughter of the influential Algonkian chief Powhatan, was baptized and given the name Rebecca in an Anglican church. It took place in 1613 or 1614 in the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement on the North American continent. Pocahontas is thought to be the earliest native convert to Christianity in the English colonies; this ceremony and her subsequent marriage to John Rolfe helped to establish peaceful relations between the colonists and the Tidewater tribes.

This painting depicts the Pilgrims on the deck of the ship Speedwell on July 22, 1620, before they departed from Delfs Haven, Holland, for North America, where they sought religious freedom. They first sailed to Southampton, England, to join the Mayflower, which was also making the voyage. After leaks forced the Speedwell to make additional stops in Dartmouth and then Plymouth, its passengers boarded the Mayflower. Five months later the Pilgrims settled the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts.

The painting General George Washington Resigning His Commission by John Trumbull is on display in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. This painting depicts the scene on December 23, 1783, in the Maryland State House in Annapolis when George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. The action was significant for establishing civilian authority over the military, a fundamental principle of American democracy.

Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. She was raised on a farm, attended rural schools, then took some vocational and academic courses at the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery before leaving to care for her grandmother and mother during their illnesses. In 1932, she married barber Raymond Parks, who was working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1933, she completed her high school studies. Ten years later, she joined the NAACP and was elected secretary.

This statue of Helen Keller was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Alabama in 2009.

This statue of Mother Joseph was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Washington in 1980.

This statue of Esther Hobart Morris was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Wyoming in 1960.

This statue of Jeannette Rankin was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Montana in 1985.

This statue of Florence Sabin was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Colorado in 1959.

This statue of Sakakawea was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by North Dakota in 2003.

This statue of Maria Sanford was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Minnesota in 1958.

The woman whom history remembers as Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797. Her parents, James and Elizabeth Baumfree, were slaves on an estate in Ulster County, New York, north of New York City. She was one of 13 children and grew up speaking Dutch. She was first sold at auction around the age of 9. In 1815 she bore her first child, a daughter, to a slave named from a neighboring farm whose owner forbade them to marry. Two years later Isabella's owner compelled her to marry one of his own slaves, with whom she had a son and three daughters.

This statue of Frances Willard was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Illinois in 1905.

This statue of Sarah Winnemucca was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Nevada in 2005.

The monument was presented to the U.S. Capitol as a gift from the women of the United States by the National Woman's Party and was accepted on behalf of Congress by the Joint Committee on the Library on February 10, 1921.

Pocahontas saves Captain John Smith, one of the founders of Jamestown, Virginia, from being clubbed to death. Her father, Chief Powhatan, is seated at the left. This scene is the first showing English settlement. (1607)

Above each of the four Rotunda doors in the U.S. Capitol are scenes from the history of the American Colonies carved in relief into the sandstone walls. The three sculptors who decorated the Rotunda were employed during the rebuilding of the Capitol after the fire of 1814.

Designed by American sculptor Randolph Rogers, each scene depicting the life of Christopher Columbus is finely modeled. The doors were installed in 1863 and moved to their present location in 1961 following the extension of the East Front of the Capitol.

The bronze doors are curved, with a semicircular tympanum above two valves that are divided into four panels each. Techniques of Renaissance perspective and different levels of relief give each scene a sense of depth.

This statue of Father Damien was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Hawaii in 1969. 

This statue of Barry Goldwater was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Arizona in 2015.