The Courage of Mary Dyer

The ability to sculpt is a remarkable gift. This gift allows an artist to give shape and permanence to something a society deems worth remembering. Our public spaces are filled with statues and memorials, each capturing a story, a value or a life that helped define who we are. The placement of these works also carries meaning for it shows the measure of importance we give to memory itself.

On the front lawn of the Massachusetts State House in Boston, beneath the shade of a broad tree, sits a statue of Mary Dyer. Seated in quiet dignity, she might be overlooked, except for where she sits. Her presence before the front of the Capitol building is a deliberate statement of conscience and conviction.  

Mary Dyer (1611-1660) was a Quaker martyr, hanged on the Boston Common for defying Puritan laws that forbade her faith. Her death stands as one of the earliest testaments to religious freedom in America. The artist, Sylvia Shaw Judson, captured her not in anguish but in contemplation, a woman that held her beliefs even unto her death.  

The statue was dedicated in July 1959, more than three centuries after her execution. Honoring Mary Dyer was a recognition of her sacrifice and a renewed understanding that freedom to believe and speak one’s truth lies at the core of our democracy.

To see Mary Dyer sitting in the heart of the city that condemned her, is quite moving. She represents the cost of her conviction and, how with time, we can transform intolerance into respect.