What the statue of a kneeling enslaved man in the Emancipation Memorial of 1876 tells us about its history − an art historian explains

Author: Virginia Raguin Distinguished Professor of Humanities Emerita, Visual Arts, College of the Holy Cross Disclosure statement Virginia Raguin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C. The striking Emancipation Memorial statue in Washington, D.C., shows Abraham Lincoln standing, while a man wearing only a loincloth is appearing to rise from a kneeling position. The face in the memorial is that of Archer Alexander, who had escaped slavery in 1863 by fleeing to St. Louis, Missouri. Fundraising for a memorial was launched in 1864 by Charlotte Scott, who had been enslaved in Virginia before moving to Ohio. She did not design the monument, however. As a historian of art, I argue that the origin and evolution of this image illustrate how ideas can change over time. History of the design The monument in Washington fuses the portrait of a real-life individual with a common symbol that had galvanized abolitionists for almost 100 years: a generic image of a kneeling enslaved person. The image of the kneeling man in...