The Freedman's Memorial

Abstract: The National Park Service manages thousands of monuments. Many stand as silent sentinels to commemorate people, places, or events, and seldom elicit any response. Others can stir positive or negative reactions, or, in some cases, both. Such is the case with the Freedmen's Memorial (often referred to as the Emancipation Monument) on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Some know that the monument depicts President Abraham Lincoln ending slavery by lifting an African American man—Archer Alexander–out of bondage. They may also be aware that African American people, as former slaves, donated the funding. Some might know that Frederick Douglass gave the dedicatory speech for the monument in front of President Ulysses S. Grant and members of Congress and the Supreme Court. At the same time, many understand these stories but believe that ultimately the memorial is demeaning to African American people and thus should be removed. This essay tells this story.