Step on Board (Boston, Massachusetts)
Dublin Core
Title
Step on Board (Boston, Massachusetts)
Subject
Subject (Topic)
Antislavery movements--United States
Freedom
Fugitive slaves
Massachusetts--Boston
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad
Antislavery movements--United States
Freedom
Fugitive slaves
Massachusetts--Boston
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad
Subject (Name)
Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913
Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913
Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture
Commemorative sculpture
Description
A high relief sculpture with Harriet Tubman and six figures: three women, two men, and a baby. All figures are clothed in nineteenth-century dress. Wearing a dress, shawl, and head wrap, Tubman strides forward, gesturing with her left hand and holding a Bible under her right arm. The figures are backed by a vertical slab of pink granite. On the reverse of statue is a diagram of the route Tubman took when accompanying passengers on the Underground Railroad (Maryland, Delaware, Philadelphia, New York City, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Canada). The reverse of the memorial also includes quotations from Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Sarah Bradford.
Creator
Cunningham, Fern, 1949-2020
Source
Photographs by Renée Ater
Date
June 20, 1999
Contributor
CBA Landscape Architects, Boston, Massachusetts; United South End Settlements, Boston, Massachusetts; New England Foundation for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; The George B. Henderson Foundation and The Edgar Ingersoll Browne Fund, Boston, Massachusetts; and Boston Parks and Recreation
Rights
Boston Art Commission, Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, Boston City Hall, Room 802, Boston, Massachusetts, 02201, United States
Format
JPEG
Language
English
Type
Visual Arts-Sculpture
Coverage
Harriet Tubman Park, Columbus Avenue and Pembrook Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02116, United States
Alternative Title
Harriet Tubman Memorial
Has Part
Inscriptions on back of relief:
Step On Board, Harriet Ross Tubman, 1820 – 1913, Go Down Moses, Way Down in Egypt’s Land, Tell Old Pharoah — Let My People Go.
“There are two things I’ve got a right to, and these are death or liberty. One or another I mean to have. No one will take me back alive.”—Harriet Tubman
“The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism.” —Frederick Douglass
“Tell my brothers to be always watching unto prayer, and when the good old ship of Zion comes along, to be ready to step aboard.”—Harriet Tubman
“She expected deliverance when she prayed, unless the Lord had ordered otherwise.” —Sarah Bradford
Step On Board, Harriet Ross Tubman, 1820 – 1913, Go Down Moses, Way Down in Egypt’s Land, Tell Old Pharoah — Let My People Go.
“There are two things I’ve got a right to, and these are death or liberty. One or another I mean to have. No one will take me back alive.”—Harriet Tubman
“The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism.” —Frederick Douglass
“Tell my brothers to be always watching unto prayer, and when the good old ship of Zion comes along, to be ready to step aboard.”—Harriet Tubman
“She expected deliverance when she prayed, unless the Lord had ordered otherwise.” —Sarah Bradford
Inscription on bronze plaque:
For the Adornment and Benefit of Boston. The design, fabrication, and installation of the memorials at Harriet Tubman park were made possible through the efforts of the United South End Settlements with funding support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, George B. Henderson Foundation, the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, a public charitable trust administered by the Trust Office of the City of Boston. The art piece ’Step on Board’ was designed by artist Fern Cunningham in 1999, and ’Emancipation’ was designed by artist Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller in 1913. The park is maintained by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department in partnership with the friends of Harriet Tubman Park, 2000.
For the Adornment and Benefit of Boston. The design, fabrication, and installation of the memorials at Harriet Tubman park were made possible through the efforts of the United South End Settlements with funding support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, George B. Henderson Foundation, the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, a public charitable trust administered by the Trust Office of the City of Boston. The art piece ’Step on Board’ was designed by artist Fern Cunningham in 1999, and ’Emancipation’ was designed by artist Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller in 1913. The park is maintained by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department in partnership with the friends of Harriet Tubman Park, 2000.
References
Monument and Myth: Commemorating Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Extent
120 x 84 in. (304.8 x 213.36 cm)
Medium
Bronze; Pink granite
Bibliographic Citation
George B. Henderson Foundation. “Special Projects: Harriet Tubman Sculpture & Park.” Accessed March 19, 2018. http://thehendersonfoundation.com/harriet_tubman_sculpture_park.htm.
Friend's of the Harriet Tubman Park. "Harriet Tubman Park." Accessed January 29, 2026. https://tubmanboston.org/#visit">https://tubmanboston.org/#visit.
Ater, Renée. Remaking Race and History: The Sculpture of Meta Warrick Fuller. University of California Press, 2010.
Rights Holder
Renée Ater
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Sculpture
Physical Dimensions
120 x 84 in. (304.8 x 213.36 cm)
Collection
Citation
Cunningham, Fern, 1949-2020, “Step on Board (Boston, Massachusetts),” Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past, accessed October 1, 2026, https://slaverymonuments.org/items/show/4.