WASHINGTON — In 2019, WUSA9 first sat down with Raya Kenney, a then-17-year-old teenager with a big idea. She wanted to build a memorial in D.C., honoring the women who stepped up to work when men were sent off to war during World War II.
“I think my friends thought I was crazy,” she said in 2019.
More than three years later, now a student at Kenyon College, she’s overcome a major obstacle. Congress authorized the creation of this memorial, in their latest Omnibus Appropriations bill.
On the National Mall, she joined WUSA9 once again, to discuss the big step.
“I got a text from a family friend that it had gone through,” she said. “And I was in the middle of a shift at work. And I said 'excuse me for a second.' And I went upstairs to our gallery space and cried tears of joy… It was just such a relief and so exciting. And the culmination of everything I had worked for.”
Kenney has now been working on this memorial for half of her life. It all started in fifth grade when she was tasked with thinking of a new memorial for D.C., as a part of a school project.
“I had just watched the film ‘A League of Their Own,’” she said. “Which was about the baseball players who took over when the men went off to war. And I thought they were super cool sliding around the bases in their skirts. And then I wanted to see what other jobs women were doing.”
That’s when she learned about the millions of women, who stepped up to work during World War II, taking jobs that were never previously available for women.
“This is so important,” Kenney said. “There were 18 million civilian women who worked on the home front and completely changed the way we view women in the workforce today. And were so inspiring for the next generation of boys and girls.”
The road to getting approval has been long and complex. In 2019, Kenney testified in front of Congress, pitching the idea.
“This is not a quick or easy process,” she said in front of Congress, only 17 years old at the time. “But it’s an important one.”
Kenney has partnered with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who introduced the bill in the House. In the Senate, the bill was introduced by Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois.
The bill was finally given the green light in December when it was included in the 2023 Omnibus Spending Bill. Kenney now needs to get to work, designing and selecting a spot for the memorial.
Kenney will also need to initiate a large fundraising effort since this project will not be paid for by the federal government. If all goes well, she’s hopeful that the memorial will be fully erected in seven years.
When asked what she would tell that 11-year-old girl with a big dream, she said that she would offer encouragement.
“You got this,” she said. “You got this. You’re going to do it. It’s going to happen. And even when you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s going to work out.”
If you want to donate, you can do so at the website for the National Memorial to the Women Who Worked on the Home Front Foundation, located here.