The FDR Memorial Legacy Committee is a citizen led organization with the mission to promote education about the FDR Memorial, improve inclusion and accessibility so all visitors can experience the Memorial, and preserve the Memorial for future generations. To align with our education outreach, the FDR Committee launched the DC Disability Rights Heroes project in late 2021.
The DC Disability Rights Heroes project provides lesson plans for children and youth to preserve and promote the heroic stories of disabled leaders who fought to add the life-sized, free-standing statue of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a wheelchair to the FDR Memorial. When the Memorial was dedicated in 1997, there was no depiction of FDR. The hard-fought campaign to add the statue started in 1995 and culminated in the 2001 dedication of the statue of FDR, now on display at the Memorial.
"The Humanities Vision Partnership Grant recognizes that there are people in our own city who have brought about change by fighting for justice and representation for disabled people," said Mary E. Dolan, Co-Founder and Executive Director, the FDR Committee. "The FDR wheelchair statue story provides a significant opportunity for teachers and students to learn about disability history. The lesson plans will feature rich stories in which students can relate, see themselves, and also project their hopes onto their future selves."
The project's seed funding was provided by the HumanitiesDC Humanities Mini-Vision Partnership Grant with a match from the Llura and Gordon Gund Foundation.
