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Just in time for Women’s History Month, the Virginia Women’s Monument has announced three more sculptures that will go into production and be sculpted into bronze for the monument on the grounds of the Virginia Capitol.

The monuments will honor Laura Copenhaver, a textile entrepreneur from Southwest Virginia; Mary Draper Ingles, a frontierswoman who was kidnapped by Shawnee Indians and eventually escaped; and Elizabeth Keckly, a talented seamstress who bought her freedom and became the dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln.

“The accomplishments and contributions of Virginia women have not been fully reflected in our textbooks and history,” said Sandra Treadway, a member of the Women’s Monument Commission and librarian of Virginia. “We see the lack of recognition of women on the landscape. If you look at monuments here and elsewhere, it’s military figures, statesmen and presidents, but not many women.

“That can leave the impression that women were not as important. This monument is to say, ‘No, women’s contributions over four centuries in Virginia have been varied and important. Virginia would not be the place it is without women having done what they have over the years,’” Treadway said.