FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman has announced the unveiling date for the first monument to honor a woman at Kentucky's Capitol.
A statue of Nettie Depp, the first woman in Kentucky to run for public office, will be unveiled on Aug. 21, 2021. Depp was elected superintendent of Barren County schools in 1913.
It's a project that's been in the works since 2014, nearly a year before the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights asked state and local governments to erect statues of women.
"A failure to observe women in places of honor narrows the vision of our youth and reveals a lack of understanding of American history," Coleman said. "Nettie Depp was a pioneer in education in Kentucky. As a teacher, a principal, and elected school superintendent in 1913, seven years before women earned full voting rights in Kentucky, Nettie Depp advocated for improved education for every Kentuckian, regardless of their gender or their race. She was a true visionary in education reform, and she was also a suffragist."
Governor Andy Beshear said it would be placed in the West End of the Capitol.
