Something Is Being Done Monument
About
“Something Is Being Done” is Lexington’s first monument dedicated to women, unveiled in May 2024. Created by sculptor Meredith Bergmann, the work uses bas-relief scenes and figures stepping toward a central gateway to show the range of women’s achievements in Lexington, Massachusetts, the country and beyond. Its title comes from Abigail Harrington, who woke her son, a militia fifer, on April 19, 1775, with the words, “The reg’lars are out and something must be done.”
That cry later became a suffragist slogan in Boston in 1887 and was carried to Washington by marchers in 1913. The monument links a 92-year-old suffragist with a young modern protester holding a “Persist” sign, and features women such as Margaret Tulip, who sued for her freedom from enslavement and won in 1770. Animals and plants, including a ladybug, an owl, a snail and an apple branch, carry symbolic meaning throughout.
What to Know
- The monument’s website includes a letter from Jessie Steigerwald, president of LexSeeHer.
- Visitors are invited to stand among the figures, and historical connections run through the sculpture to its far side.
- An online diagram and profiles identify each woman portrayed.
- Figures follow the outlines of powder horns, meant to convey the energy of women’s push for recognition and rights.
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