The Hon. Dame Lois Browne-Evans

Hon. Dame Lois Browne-Evans (June 1, 1927 – May 29, 2007), Bermudian hero, lawyer, leader, politician, mother, educator, orator and public servant. Browne-Evans was born on June 1, 1927 in Pembroke, Bermuda. She attended Central School and was awarded a scholarship to Berkeley Institute. After graduating from Berkley, Browne-Evans taught for two years at Elliott School in Devonshire, and then attended law school at King’s College London.

In 1953, Browne-Evans gained recognition as Bermuda's first female barrister. In 1963, she was the first black woman to be elected to the House of Assembly of Bermuda, and became the Member of Parliament for the Devonshire North constituency. Browne-Evans led the Progressive Labour Party as the first female Leader of the Opposition in the British Commonwealth. In 1999, she was appointed Minister of Legislative Affairs and became Bermuda's first female Attorney-General.

Browne-Evans died on May 29, 2007, three days before her 80th birthday. The PLP government, under Premier Dr. Ewart Brown, erected a new Police Justice Center that was named the Dame Lois Browne Evans Building in honor of Browne-Evans and her many acheivements. Zenos Frudakis was commissioned to create a portrait statue of Hon. Dame Lois Browne-Evans and it is currently installed in the Dame Lois Browne Evans Building in Hamilton, Bermuda. In 2008, Browne-Evans was declared Bermuda’s first national hero, and her life and work is celebrated on National Heroes Day (first observed on October 13, 2008).

Monument
Size: Life size
Media: Bronze
Location: Dame Lois Browne Evans Building (Police/Justice Center), Hamilton, Bermuda
Collection: Bermuda, Justice Center

“Both this building that bears her name, and this statue of her likeness, will forever be a reminder that while justice may be blind to race, social standing, political beliefs and all those other things that get in the way of our accepting one another outside these doors, inside these doors a watchful pair of eyes stands as safeguard for the ideals on which the very system she loved was built.”
— Premier Paula Cox