Boston statue depicting a freed slave kneeling before Lincoln coming down
A statue in Boston’s Park Square depicting a freed slave kneeling in front of Abraham Lincoln is coming down 141 years after is was given to the city.
The Boston Art Commission has voted unanimously to remove the monument — known as the Emancipation Group statue or the Freedman’s Memorial. It’s located just off Boston Common.
Mayor Martin Walsh backed the decision Tuesday night.
“After engaging in a public process, it’s clear that residents and visitors to Boston have been uncomfortable with this statue, and its reductive representation of the Black man’s role in the abolitionist movement,” Walsh said in a statement. “I fully support the Boston Art Commission’s decision for removal and thank them for their work.”
The Emancipation Group was a gift to the city by Moses Kimball, a local politician and circus showman, the commission said in a release. It has stood since 1879.
Lincoln’s right hand rests on the Emancipation Proclamation and his left is raised above the crouched figure of Archer Alexander, a Black man who assisted the Union Army, escaped slavery, and was recaptured under the Fugitive Slave Act, the commission added. There is an inscription on the front of the piece that reads, “A race set free/ and the country at peace / Lincoln / Rests from his labors.”
The statue, which is a copy of a statue in Washington D.C. created by Thomas Ball that is also being targeted, has been criticized since its installation for its depiction of an enslaved man, the commission said.
It also comes as the nation is grappling with race relations and police brutality in the wake of the killings of Blacks — especially the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“Public art is storytelling at the street level. As such, the imagery should strike the heart and engage the mind,” said Ekua Holmes, Vice-Chair of the Boston Art Commission. “What I heard today is that it hurts to look at this piece, and in the Boston landscape we should not have works that bring shame to any groups of people, not only in Boston but across the entire United States.”
The arts commission said a decision on when to take the artwork down would be made at the next meeting July 14.
The commission added this could be the start of determining what to do with other statues in the city.
“I appreciate the immense contributions from the public and their thoughts for the future of The Emancipation Group, and I look forward to using this process as a model for assessing other pieces in our collection,” said Kara Elliott-Ortega, chief of Arts and Culture for the City of Boston.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2VAXlAr
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