As a public health precaution due to COVID-19, all Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are temporarily closed to the public as of Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. We are not announcing a reopening date at this time.
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
Usage Conditions Apply
There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Artist
Joy Buba, 1904 - 1998
Sitter
Margaret Higgins Sanger, 14 Sep 1879 - 6 Sep 1966
Date
1972 cast after 1964 original
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
With Base: 52.1 x 39.4 x 28.6cm (20 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 11 1/4")
Base: 7.6 x 27.9 x 16.5cm (3 x 11 x 6 1/2")
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mrs. Cordelia Scaife May
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.72.70
Exhibition Label
Born Corning, New York
As a visiting nurse among New York City's immigrants in the early 1900s, Margaret Sanger was profoundly affected by the physical and mental toll exacted on women by frequent childbirth, miscarriage, and self-induced abortion. Faced with laws forbidding dissemination of contraceptive information, Sanger's crusade had much opposition. But by 1921, when Sanger founded the Birth Control League, her movement had begun to win adherents in respectable quarters. Adding to her life of controversy is her association with the eugenics movement-which included promotion of forced sterilization for those deemed mentally unfit-a movement that for a time was endorsed by many of the era's prominent thinkers.
