Tower of Freedom (Windsor, Ontario)

Tower of Freedom (Windsor, Ontario)

Subject (Topic)
Antislavery movements--Canada
Freedom
Fugitive slaves--Canada
Ontario--Windsor
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad

Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

The Canadian counterpart to Ed Dwight's Gateway to Freedom: International Memorial to the Underground Railroad consists of a twenty-two-foot high granite tower, adorned with a bronze flame symbolizing the “Eternal Flame of Freedom.” Life-size bronze figures stand on opposite sides of the tower’s base. The cluster of four bronze figures facing the river include an African American woman holding an infant and a white woman, often identified as a Quaker “operative.” Behind the women, a man stands with his arms raised in a gesture of praise. On the opposite side of the tower, a singular figure of a woman looks back towards the river and the United States. Despite her age, she clutches a rag doll.

Dwight, Ed, 1933-

Photograph: Wikipedia Commons

October 20, 2001

Detroit 300; The Underground Railroad Monument Committee of Windsor

City of Windsor, 400 City Hall Square East, Windsor, Ontario, N9A 7K6, Canada

JPEG

English

Visual Arts-Sculpture

Windsor Civic Esplanade, 200 Pitt Street E., Windsor, Ontario, N9A 6T6, Canada

Bronze plaque:
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN CANADA
LE CHEMIN DE FER CLANDESTIN AU CANADA

From the early 19th century until the American Civil War, settlements along the Detroit and Niagara rivers were important terminals for the Underground Railroad. White and black abolitionists formed a heroic network dedicated to helping free and enslaved African Americans find freedom from oppression. By 1861, some 30,000 freedom-seekers resided in what is now Ontario, after secretly traveling north from slave states like Kentucky and Virginia. Some returned south after the outbreak of the Civil War, but many remained helping to forge the modern Canadian identity.

Du début du XIXe siècle à la guerre de Sécession, des villages le long des rivières Detroit et Niagara servirent de terminus au chemin de fer clandestin. Ce réseau d’ abolitionnistes blancs et noirs aida les Afro-Américains à fuir l’oppression pour atteindre la liberté. Ainsi, en 1861, près de 30 000 réfugies d’ascendance africaine, venant d'États esclavagistes comme le Kentucky et la Virginie, vivaient dans ce qui est aujourd’hui l’Ontario. Des Certains la guerre de Sécession certains repartirent vers le sub, mais beaucoup s’installèrent ici en permanence et contribuèrent à forger l'identité du Canada moderne

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Inscription on the river-facing side of the monument:
“Keeping the Flame of Freedom Alive”

Inscription on the reserve of the monument:
“International Underground Railroad Memorial”

Inscription on base:
“UNDERGROUND RAILRAOD AREAS OF SETTLEMENT AMERSTBURG
DRESEDEN
BUXTON
CHATHAM
COLCHESTER
LITTLE RIVER
NEW CANAAN
PUCE
SANDWICH
WINDSOR"

Bronze plaque in front of the memorial:
Tower of Freedom by Ed Dwight
Dedicated October 20, 2001,
with companion work Gateway to Freedom
in Hart Plaza, Detroit.
A project of Detroit 300 and the Underground Railroad Monument Committee of Windsor.

Bronze; Granite

Faires, Nora. "Across the Border to Freedom: The International Underground Railroad Memorial and the Meanings of Migration." Journal of American Ethnic History 32, no. 2 (2013): 38-67.

Renée Ater

Sculpture

277 x 134 x 134 in. (703 x 340 x 340 cm)