The ''Emancipation and Freedom Monument'' on

Brown's Island Brown's Island is an artificial island on the James River in Richmond, Virginia, formed by the Haxall Canal. Part of the city's James River Park, it is the popular venue of a large number of outdoor concerts and festivals in the spring and s ...

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, is a public

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

installed on September 22, 2021. The monument includes two

bronze statue Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (su ...

s of an

emancipated Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfran ...

man and woman with an infant. The woman is holding a piece of paper with the date January 1, 1863 which corresponds with the day U.S. president

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

issued the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...

. The monument was designed by Oregon sculptor Thomas Jay Warren. Virginia senator

Jennifer McClellan Jennifer Leigh McClellan (born December 28, 1972) is an American politician and attorney serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Virginia's 4th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic ...

led the commissioning of the statue. According to McClellan, "it's the first state-funded statue celebrating emancipation in the U.S."

Composition

The

pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

features the names, photos, and stories of ten Virginians who participated involved both before and after

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

Pre-emancipation

Mary Bowser Mary Richards, also known as Mary Jane Richards Garvin and possibly Mary Bowser (born 1846), was a Union spy during the Civil War. She was possibly born enslaved from birth in Virginia, but there is no documentation of where she was born or who ...

, former enslaved Union spy during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

* William Harvey Carney, soldier and formerly enslaved *

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

, enslaved blacksmith and rebellion leader *

Dred Scott Dred Scott ( – September 17, 1858) was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for the freedom of themselves and their two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, in the '' Dred Scott v. Sandford'' case ...

, enslaved man and

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

of ''

Dred Scott v. Sandford ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, and therefore they ...

'' *

Nat Turner Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an enslaved Black carpenter and preacher who led a four-day rebellion of both enslaved and free Black people in Southampton County, Virginia in August 1831. Nat Turner's Rebellion res ...

, enslaved preacher and rebellion leader

Post-emancipation

Rosa Dixon Bowser Rosa L. Dixon Bowser (January 7, 1855 – February 7, 1931) was an American educator. She was the first African-American teacher hired in Richmond, Virginia. She organized the Virginia Teachers' Reading Circle, which became the Virginia State Teac ...

, educator and women's rights activist *

John Mercer Langston John Mercer Langston (December 14, 1829 – November 15, 1897) was an African-American abolitionist, attorney, educator, activist, diplomat, and politician. He was the founding dean of the law school at Howard University and helped create the d ...

, politician and academic administrator * John Mitchell Jr., community activist, newspaper editor, and political candidate * Lucy F. Simms, educator *

Wyatt Tee Walker Wyatt Tee Walker (August 16, 1928 – January 23, 2018) was an African-American pastor, national civil rights leader, theologian, and cultural historian. He was a chief of staff for Martin Luther King Jr., and in 1958 became an early board mem ...

, civil rights activist and reverend

Gallery

File:Emancipation and Freedom Monument 02.jpg, view 1 File:Emancipation and Freedom Monument 01.jpg, view 2 File:Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 01.jpg, Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 01 File:Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 02.jpg, Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 02 File:Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 03.jpg, Emancipation and Freedom Monument Pedestal 03

References

External links