KINGSTON, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) has expressed pride for the selection of Jamaican Nina Cooke John’s design for the Harriet Tubman monument set to be erected in Washington Park.

Nina Cooke John’s design will replace the Christopher Columbus monument that was recently removed. 

The announcement was made by Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Ras J Baraka.

 Nina Cooke John is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. She is the founding principal of Studio Cooke John Architecture and Design, a multidisciplinary design studio based in New York.

With speculative design projects including the new Jamaican Parliament, the city of Newark, NJ, and NYC’s Stryker Park, Studio Cooke John aims to transform relationships between people and the built environment through place making. 

“The People’s National Party is proud of the Kingston-born and raised professor and mother of three who earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and MSAAD from Columbia University,” the party said in a release today.

Congratulating Professor Cooke John on this remarkable achievement, the PNP said, “We are proud of Jamaica’s legacy in redefining history in such meaningful ways.”