I Am Queen Mary is a statue in Copenhagen, Denmark of Mary Thomas, a leader of the 1878 "Fireburn" labor revolt in St. Croix, a former Danish colony now part of the U.S. Virgin Islands.[1] The statue, created by artists Jeannette Ehlers and La Vaughn Belle, was unveiled in March 2018 outside the Danish West Indian Warehouse, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the sale and transfer of the Danish West Indies.[2] It is the first public monument in Denmark to honor a Black woman and represent Denmark's colonial past.[3] The statue suffered significant damage during a storm on December 27, 2020, leaving it irreparable. Since then, only the plinth remains, as Belle and Ehlers continue to source a permanent bronze version of the statue.[4][2]
- ^ Sorensen, Martin Selsoe (March 31, 2018). "Denmark Gets First Public Statue of a Black Woman, a 'Rebel Queen'". The New York Times. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
- ^ a b "I am Queen Mary Statue in Copenhagen, Denmark". The Contested Histories Initiative. Case Study #49. June 2023 – via Contested Histories.
- ^ Doss, Erika (2024-05-07), "I Am Queen Mary, Copenhagen", Breaking the Bronze Ceiling, Fordham University Press, pp. 257–260, doi:10.1515/9781531506414-020, ISBN 978-1-5315-0641-4, retrieved 2024-11-18
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