![]() Scott’s brainchild and philanthropic achievement today stands surrounded: first by protective fencing, then by armed guards wearing Kevlar vests, then by protesters, counter-protesters, onlookers, neighbors and journalists, and finally by a nation in which many are seeing the legacies of slavery for the first time. With this act, Scott had secured immortality her 1891 obituary in the Washington Evening Star, eulogized that her “name, at one time, was doubtless upon the lips of every man and woman in the United States and is now read by the thousands who annually visit the Lincoln statue at Lincoln Park.” Indeed, the Washington Bee, an important black newspaper of the era, proudly referred its readers to “the Charlotte Scott Emancipation statue in Lincoln Park.” The plaque explains that the sculpture was built “with funds contributed solely by emancipated citizens of the United States,” beginning with “the first contribution of five dollars … made by Charlotte Scott a freed woman of Virginia, being her first earnings in freedom.” She had the original idea, “on the day she heard of President Lincoln’s death to build a monument to his memory.” In the park, a plaque on the pedestal identifies the Thomas Ball sculpture as “Freedom’s Memorial” (Ball called his artwork “Emancipation Group”). The newly discovered letter written by Frederick Douglass in 1876. Fortunately, in coming to light again at this particular moment, his forgotten letter and the details of his suggestion teach valuable lessons about how great historical change occurs, how limited all monuments are in conveying historical truth, and how opportunities can always be found for dialogue in public spaces. ![]() “There is room in Lincoln park for another monument,” he urged in a letter published in the National Republican newspaper just days after the ceremony, “and I throw out this suggestion to the end that it may be taken up and acted upon.” As far as we can ascertain, Douglass’s letter has never been republished since it was written. It turns out Frederick Douglass had this idea first. Blight called for an arts commission to be established to preserve the original monument while adding new statues to the site. ![]() In an essay for the Washington Post, Yale historian and Douglass biographer David W. They had the support of Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s sole representative in Congress, who announced her intention to introduce legislation to have the Lincoln statue removed and “placed in a museum.” Since then, a variety of voices have risen up, some in favor of leaving the monument in place, others seeking to tear it down (before writing this essay, the two of us were split), and still others joining Holmes Norton’s initiative to have it legally removed. As the nation continues to debate the meaning of monuments and memorials, and as local governments and protesters alike take them down, the Lincoln Park sculpture presents a dispute with multiple shades of gray.Įarlier this month, protestors with the group Freedom Neighborhood rallied at the park, managed by the National Park Service, to discuss pulling down the statue, with many in the crowd calling for its removal. ![]() Capitol, in a square called Lincoln Park, the so-called Emancipation Memorial depicts Abraham Lincoln standing beside a formerly enslaved African-American man in broken shackles, down on one knee-rising or crouching, depending on who you ask. Frederick Douglass, with typical historical foresight, outlined a solution to the current impasse over a statue he dedicated in Washington, D.C., in 1876. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |