Emancipation and Freedom Monument

Monument in Richmond, Virginia

37°32′04″N 77°26′38″W / 37.5344°N 77.4439°W / 37.5344; -77.4439

The Emancipation and Freedom Monument on Brown's Island, Richmond, Virginia, is a public statue installed on September 22, 2021.^[2] The monument includes two 12-foot (3.7 m) bronze statues of an emancipated man and woman with an infant.^[3] The woman is holding a piece of paper with the date January 1, 1863 which corresponds with the day U.S. president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.^[4]

The monument was designed by Oregon sculptor Thomas Jay Warren.^[2] Virginia senator Jennifer McClellan led the commissioning of the statue. According to McClellan, "it's the first state-funded statue celebrating emancipation in the U.S."^[2]

Composition

The pedestal features the names, photos, and stories of ten Virginians who participated involved both before and after emancipation.^[4]

Pre-emancipation

Mary Bowser, former enslaved Union spy during the Civil War^[4]
William Harvey Carney, soldier and formerly enslaved^[4]
Gabriel, enslaved blacksmith and rebellion leader^[4]
Dred Scott, enslaved man and plaintiff of Dred Scott v. Sandford^[4]
Nat Turner, enslaved preacher and rebellion leader^[4]

Post-emancipation

Rosa Dixon Bowser, educator and women's rights activist^[4]
John Mercer Langston, politician and academic administrator^[4]
John Mitchell Jr., community activist, newspaper editor, and political candidate^[4]
Lucy F. Simms, educator^[4]
Wyatt Tee Walker, civil rights activist and reverend^[4]

Gallery

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Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 01
Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 02
Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 03

References

^ "Virginia's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commission".
^ ^a ^b ^c Shivaram, Deepa (September 22, 2021). "An Emancipation Statue Debuts In Virginia Two Weeks After Robert E. Lee Was Removed". NPR. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
^ "Emancipation monument unveiled in Richmond, Virginia". PBS NewsHour. 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Coleburn, Caroline; Thompson, Cameron (2021-09-22). "Emancipation and Freedom Monument unveiled on Brown's Island in Richmond". WTVR. Retrieved 2021-09-22.