
In March of 2016, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law to replace the statue of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, which had been donated to the U.S. Capitol for display in Statuary Hall in 1922, with a new “Great Floridian.”
The search for a new sculpture was conducted by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, which reviewed 3,587 submissions. The list was narrowed to 130 eligible names, including Mary McLeod Bethune, who received 1,233 votes, easily outpacing the second-place subject which received 447 votes.