A statue of Frederick Douglass sculpted by Sidney W. Edwards, sometimes called the Frederick Douglass Monument, was installed in Rochester, New York in 1899 after it was commissioned by the African-American activist John W. Thompson. According to Visualising Slavery: Art Across the African Diaspora, it was the first statue in the United States that memorialized a specific African-American person.
Originally located by the Rochester station, the statue was moved in 1941 to Highland Bowl, a natural amphitheater in Highland Park. The statue was relocated again in October 2019, becoming the centerpiece of a new Frederick Douglass Memorial Plaza. The base is surrounded by plaques bearing words from Douglass's speeches.
Description
The full-length statue of Frederick Douglass is installed in Memorial Plaza, located several hundred yards from Douglass's former home on South Avenue. He has a beard and mustache, and wears a greatcoat, bow tie, and vest with a watch chain. His proper right foot is extended, and his arms are outstretched with his palms facing upward. The bronze sculpture is approximately tall and has a diameter. It rests on a cylindrical granite drum with four bronze plaques, which sits on an octagonal base atop a grey-tan granite block base that measures approximately by .
The surrounding pillar sculptures represent Polaris (the North Star) and several constellations. The North Star was the anti-slavery newspaper published in Rochester by Douglass, named after the directions given to escaped slaves to follow Polaris north to freedom.
Inscriptions
The monument has several inscriptions. One of the rear of the base reads, "SMITH GRANITE CO. / WESTERLY, RI". Additionally, a plaque on the back of the base reads: "THE BEST DEFENCE OF FREE / AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS IS / THE HEARTS OF THE AMERICAN / PEOPLE THEMSELVES." / "ONE WITH GOD IS A MAJORITY" / "I KNOW OF NO RIGHTS OF RACE / SUPERIOR TO THE RIGHTS OF / HUMANITY."
A plaque on one of the sides of the base reads: "I KNOW OF NO SOIL BETTER / ADAPTED TO THE GROWTH OF / REFORM THAN AMERICAN SOIL / I KNOW OF NO COUNTRY. / WHERE THE CONDITIONS FOR / EFFECTING GREAT CHANGES / IN THE SETTLED ORDER OF / THINGS, FOR THE DEVELOPMENT / OF RIGHT IDEAS OF LIBERTY / AND HUMANITY ARE MORE / FAVORABLE THAN HERE IN / THESE UNITED STATES." / EXTRACT FROM SPEECH ON / DRED SCOTT DECISION, DELIVERED / IN NEW YORK, MAY 1857".
Another on the opposite side reads: "MEN DO NOT LIVE BY BREAD/ALONE; SO WITH NATIONS, THEY / ARE NOT SAVED BY ART, BUT BY / HONESTY; NOT BY THE GILDED / SPLENDORS OF WEALTH BUT BY / THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF / MANLY VIRTUE; NOT BY THE / MULTITUDINOUS GRATIFICATION / OF THE FLESH, BUT BY / THE CELESTIAL GUIDANCE / OF THE SPIRIT." / EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH ON / THE WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, / DELIVERED AT CANADAIGUA, N.Y. / AUGUST 4, 1857".
History
Creation and dedication
In 1894, John W. Thompson, began organizing for a monument recognizing the African-American soldiers who had died in the Civil War. Thompson worked as a waiter at the Powers Hotel and was the leader of Eureka Lodge #36 of Free and Accepted Masons, a lodge with mostly Black members; the lodge was associated with Prince Hall Freemasonry, which largely did not admit non-white members. Thompson was prompted by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument; the monument, which was located in Washington Square Park, which did not depict any black figures.
The Eureka Lodge formed a committee to create a monument for the African-American soldiers and sailors who perished in the Civil War, but received little support. He then sent a letter to Douglass, who was then living in Anacostia, Maryland. Douglass replied in a supportive letter dated December 3, 1894: "I shall be proud to live to see the proposed monument erected in the city of Rochester, where the best years of my life were spent in the service of our people—and which to this day seems like my home." On December 21, appeals for funding for the monument were made in Rochester newspapers, but there was opposition from those who thought that the existing monument already represented all of the war dead. On December 22, a meeting held in the offices of state legislator Charles S. Baker decided to erect a shaft for the black war dead topped with a statue of Douglass.
However, Douglass unexpectedly died on February 20, 1895. The next morning, Thompson announced in the local newspapers that the monument would be erected in Douglass's memory. Once funds were collected, sculptor Stanley Edwards began creating an 8-foot bronze statue, using Charles Remond Douglass, Frederick's son, as a model.