Swing Low: Harriet Tubman Memorial (New York City, New York)

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Dublin Core

Title

Swing Low: Harriet Tubman Memorial (New York City, New York)

Subject

Subject (Topic)
Abolitionists--United States
Anti-slavery movements--United States
New York--History
Northeastern United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad

Subject (Name)
Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913

Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

Description

Over-life size portrait sculpture of Harriet Tubman. Signed by the artist: A. Saar, 2006. Foundry stamp: DS/Decker Studios.

Creator

Saar, Alison, 1956-

Source

Photographs by Renée Ater

Date

November 13, 2008

Contributor

Quennell Rothschild & Partners, LLP (landscape architects), New York, New York; URS Corporation (engineering), New York, New York; City of New York; Manhattan Borough President’s Office; NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program; NYC Department of Parks and Recreation; NYC Department of Design and Construction; and NYC Department of Transportation

Rights

NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program, 31 Chambers Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York, 10007, United States

Format

JPEG

Language

English

Type

Visual Arts-Sculpture

Coverage

Harriet Tubman Plaza, St. Nicholas Avenue, West 122nd Street, and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, New York City, New York, 07062, United States

Alternative Title

Harriet Tubman Memorial; Harriet Tubman Triangle

Has Part

Inscripton on bronze plaque:
Harriet Tubman Memorial.
Alison Saar. Swing Low, 2007
Plaza Design in Collaboration with
Quennell Rothschild & Partners, LLP
Commissioned by the City of New York
Manhattan Borough President’s Office
NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Program
NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
NYC Department of Transportation
NYC Department of Design and Construction

Inscription on exterior granite wall:
“What a Beautiful Morning It Will Be! O Let My People Go.”

Informational plaque:
Swing Low: Harriet Tubman Memorial
Harriet Tubman Triangle

This larger-than-life bronze sculpture depicts abolitionist organizer and Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman (c. 1822-1913), and stands at the crossroads of St. Nicholas Avenue, West 122nd Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem. Douglass once said of Tubman that except for John Brown, he knew of "no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people."

Born into slavery in Maryland around 1822, Tubman escaped in 1849 via the Underground Railroad, the network of places and people dedicated to helping slaves find their way to freedom in non-slaveholding communities. Settling first in Philadelphia, then Canada, Tubman spent ten years returning to Maryland at great personal risk, to guide scores of friends and family members to freedom. Determined to end slavery, she later served the Union Army as a scout, spy and nurse in the Civil War. Settling in Auburn, New York after the war, she continued campaigning for equal rights for women and African-Americans. Her humanitarian work, including caring for the sick, homeless and disabled of all races, resulted in the establishment of the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged in that community. She died in 1913 and was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn with semi-military honors.

The memorial, commissioned through the Department of Cultural Affairs' Percent for Art program, was created by African-American sculptor Alison Saar. The artist has depicted Tubman "not as the conductor of the Underground Railroad but as the train itself, an unstoppable locomotive," the roots of slavery pulled up in her wake. Saar designed stylized portraits of "anonymous passengers" of the Underground Railroad in Tubman's skirt, some of which were inspired by West African "passport masks." Around the granite base of the monument are bronze tiles alternately depicting events in Tubman's life and traditional quilting patterns.

The multi-agency project included landscaping the formerly barren traffic triangle. Designed by Quennell Rothschild and constructed by URS, the renovated triangle features paving blocks and roughly hewn granite to create a natural setting. Plantings native to both New York and Tubman's home state of Maryland represent the woods and terrain traveled by Tubman and her Underground Railroad passengers, providing a contemplative space in which to consider Tubman's legacy.

City of New York Parks & Recreation
www.nyc.gov/parks
October 2013

Extent

156 x 96 x 132 in. (396.24 x 243.84 x 335.28 cm.)

Medium

Bronze; Chinese granite

Bibliographic Citation

Press Release. “Swing Low: Harriet Tubman Memorial Sculpture is Dedicated in Harlem.” NYC Parks. November 13, 2008. Accessed March 18, 2018, https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/press-releases?id=20772%20.

“Percent for Art Interview: Alison Saar.” NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Accessed March 18, 2018, https://percentforartnyc.tumblr.com/post/77305087355/percent-for-art-interview-alison-saar.

Rights Holder

Renée Ater

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Sculpture

Physical Dimensions

156 x 96 x 132 in. (396.24 x 243.84 x 335.28 cm.)

Citation

Saar, Alison, 1956-, “Swing Low: Harriet Tubman Memorial (New York City, New York),” Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past, accessed October 12, 2024, https://slaverymonuments.org/items/show/12.

Geolocation