The memorial is located in the coastal Ghanaian district of Anlo, once known for its substantial involvement in the slave trade. A high-walled circular enclosure with a small wooden door, which serves as a narrow entrance, leads the viewer to the central feature of the memorial: a life-size sculptural group of a tall European slave-trader brandishing a whip over two kneeling African figures. The African figures, dressed in traditional garb, are chained at the neck. The interior walls of the monument are embellished with a narrative frieze illustrating a popular local legend. The narrative frieze of the memorial tells the story of a popular white trader who lived in Atorkor (a small village located in the district of Anlo): As the story goes: “One day, the Trader announced a dancing competition for the best dancers and drummers amongst the youth on his ship. The best dancer in the village was a beautiful young girl, but her parents forbade her from attending the party, as she had not completed her chores for the day. All the other young people in the village went to the dancing competition on the boat, where they were plied with rum before being shackled and sold into slavery.” As artist and educator Senam Okudzeto notes, “There are many versions of the story. This particular one corresponds with the official government version and was sourced from a website put up by the present chief of Atorkor, Samuel Adjorlorlo, who runs the Atorkor Development Foundation (ADF), an NGO for the development of the region” (see bibliographic citation).
The camp was established in 1863 as a depot for the Union Army during the Civil War, becoming a recruiting ground for new soldiers from Eastern Tennessee and escaping freedom seekers.
Among the many African American freedom seekers who arrived at Camp Nelson, were the families— wives, children, elderly parents— of the men who would later enlist and serve in the Union Army. The women, children, and parents built (makeshift) settlements on the outskirts of the camp, fueled by racist assumptions about African American women’s sexuality, a number of the white officers erroneously feared that the African American women would spread venereal disease among the black soldiers and began to agitate for their removal (Richard Spears. “John G. Fee, Camp Nelson, and Kentucky Blacks, 1864-1865.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 85, No. 1 (Winter 1987), 34).
Moreover, the freedom seekers from Kentucky were particularly vulnerable as they were still legally owned by Kentuckians who never officially join the Confederacy. At various points over 1864 Commander Speed Smith Fry successfully expelled unwanted refugees from Camp Nelson.
On November 23, 1864, Fry ordered the forcible expulsion of more than 400 women and children. Leaving almost no time to gather their possessions, mounted Union soldiers drove the women and children from the camp in freezing temperatures and then destroyed their makeshift homes. More than 100 freedom seekers perished in the freezing weather. To read an affidavit of a USCT soldier from Kentucky whose family was forcibly removed in November 1864 from Camp Nelson, click here.
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Camp Nelson National Monument, formerly Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, is a 525-acre national monument, historical museum, and park located in southern Jessamine County, Kentucky, 20 miles south of Lexington, Kentucky.
The camp was established in 1863 as a depot for the Union Army during the Civil War, becoming a recruiting ground for new soldiers from Eastern Tennessee and escaping freedom seekers.
Among the many African American freedom seekers who arrived at Camp Nelson, were the families— wives, children, elderly parents— of the men who would later enlist and serve in the Union Army. The women, children, and parents built (makeshift) settlements on the outskirts of the camp, fueled by racist assumptions about African American women’s sexuality, a number of the white officers erroneously feared that the African American women would spread venereal disease among the black soldiers and began to agitate for their removal (Richard Spears. “John G. Fee, Camp Nelson, and Kentucky Blacks, 1864-1865.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 85, No. 1 (Winter 1987), 34).
Moreover, the freedom seekers from Kentucky were particularly vulnerable as they were still legally owned by Kentuckians who never officially join the Confederacy. At various points over 1864 Commander Speed Smith Fry successfully expelled unwanted refugees from Camp Nelson.
On November 23, 1864, Fry ordered the forcible expulsion of more than 400 women and children. Leaving almost no time to gather their possessions, mounted Union soldiers drove the women and children from the camp in freezing temperatures and then destroyed their makeshift homes. More than 100 freedom seekers perished in the freezing weather. To read an affidavit of a USCT soldier from Kentucky whose family was forcibly removed in November 1864 from Camp Nelson, click here.
Subject (Topic)
Abolitionists--United States
Anti-slavery movements--United States
Michigan--History
Midwestern United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Michigan
Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895
Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture
Bronze plaque on granite base:
Frederick Douglass
Dedicated May 11, 2017, in proud recognition of the speech given at Hillsdale College by Frederick Douglass on January 11, 1863
"Neither law, learning, nor religion, is addressed to any man’s color or race. Science, education, the Word of God, and all the virtues known among men, are recommended to us, not as races, but as men. We are not recommended to love or hate any particular variety of the human family more than any other. Not as Ethiopians; not as Caucasians; not as Mongolians; not as Afro-Americans, or Anglo-Americans, are we addressed, but as men. God and nature speak to our manhood, and to our manhood alone. Here all ideas of duty and moral obligation are predicated."
—Blessing of Liberty and Education—September 3, 1894
With Gratitude to Mr. James Nagy in Memory of his beloved Wanda Nagy
Dr. & Mrs. Larry Arnn
Bruce Wolfe—Sculptor
"Frederick Douglass: A Brief History." Hillsdale College Blog. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.hillsdale.edu/frederick-douglass/.
"Hillsdale College Unveils Statue of Frederick Douglass." Press Relase, News and Media, Hillsdale College. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.hillsdale.edu/news-and-media/press-releases/hillsdale-college-unveils-statue-frederick-douglass/.
"A Man Worth Emulating: Frederick Douglass Statue Dedicated on Hillsdale's Liberty Walk." Hillsdale College Blog. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.hillsdale.edu/hillsdale-blog/hillsdale-magazine/worth-emulating-frederick-douglass/.
"Frederick Douglass, Statue Unveiling at Hillsdale College." Bruce Wolfe. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.brucewolfe.com/frederick-douglass/.