DETROIT, Mich. — Supporters of a plan to honor former Mayor Coleman A. Young in the U.S. Capitol will formally kick off their fundraising drive on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.
Guests at the launch will meet sculptor Austen Brantley, a 31-year-old Detroit native, and see a 26-inch model of a bronze figure that will stand close to nine feet tall when finished.
State lawmakers voted unanimously in 2022 to make Young one of the two figures Michigan sends to National Statuary Hall, alongside President Gerald Ford. Each state is allowed two statues. Young would take the place of Lewis Cass, whose statue would come back to Michigan to a site not yet chosen.
Organizers have not set a final budget, though costs of $1.5 million or more are possible. The plan also calls for a replica in Detroit, to be placed in the Renaissance Center once that building is revamped. Khary Turner, the foundation executive director, said replacing the Capitol statue will likely take another two years.
Young, a Tuskegee Airman in World War II, was the first Black mayor of Detroit and led the city from 1974 to 1994. He died in 1997 at age 79.
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