Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A statue of Barbara Rose Johns, a Black teenage girl who protested segregation, has been unveiled at the U.S. Capitol, four years after Virginia selected the civil rights icon to represent the state instead of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The unveiling ceremony was held Tuesday afternoon in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center's Emancipation Hall.
"Today, we are here to honor one of America's true trailblazers, a woman who embodied the essence of the American spirit in her fight for liberty and justice and equal treatment under the law: the indomitable Barbara Rose Johns," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in his opening remarks during the ceremony.
Johnson said more than 200 members of the Johns family were present for the ceremony, as well as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and nearly 50 Virginia state officials.
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