Atorkor Slave Monument (Atorkor, Ghana)]]> Slavery
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Public art
Public sculpture
Anlo-Afiadenyigba, Ghana]]>
Commemorative sculpture]]> 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).

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Atlantic Studies 9, no. 3 (2012): 337-61.]]> Slavery and Abolition 22., no. 2 (2010): 1-24.]]>
Valongo Wharf (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)]]> Slavery
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]]>
Memorial]]> wharf to its World Heritage List.

The site consists of a number of archaeological layers, the lowest of which are the remains of the Valongo Wharf’s floor pavings. The bodies of the slaves who died upon arrival in Brazil were burned, and chopped-up bones were buried in mass graves on a site near the wharf.]]>
here.]]> UNESCO, "Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site," Accessed May 28, 2019: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1548]]>
Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves) (Gorée Island, Senegal)]]> Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Dakar, Senegal]]>
here.

To listen to a short interview with the curator of the Maison des Esclaves, click here.]]>
International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. Accessed April 29, 2019, https://www.sitesofconscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Maison-Des-Esclaves-Overview-2019.pdf]]>
Camp Nelson National Monument (Nicholasville, KY)]]> Men--United States Colored Troops
Associations--Military
Southeastern United States]]>
National Monument]]> 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. 

 

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Camp Nelson, National Park Service]]> https://www.nps.gov/cane/learn/historyculture/index.htm]]> https://exploreuk.uky.edu/fa/findingaid/?id=xt77sq8qcb8z.]]>
Neg Mawon Emancipation Monument (Roseau, Dominica )]]> Slavery-Emancipation
Slavery-Abolition
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Diaspora
Roseau, Dominica]]>
Commemorative sculpture]]>
"This monument is a symbol of freedom and emancipation. It is a tribute to all the enslaved Africans who suffered and were executed in the history of Dominica. It honours the Maroons who risked their lives to fight for the emancipation of all. It pays homage to those who were sold and executed at the Old Roseau Market and who were held at the Barracoon Building in Roseau before being sold and sent to the plantations. This monument salutes the memory of our African ancestors and the immense contribution of their skills to our early infrastructure and the development of agriculture in Dominica through the shedding of their blood, sweat and tears. It celebrates the powerful and lasting influence which our which our African ancestors had on Dominica's present day culture, especially in our forms of music, language, costumes and cuisine. This memorial is a reminder to all Dominicans that we should continue to sustain our African heritage and its many cultural expressions."]]>
Frederick Douglass (Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, MI)]]> Subject (Topic)
Abolitionists--United States
Anti-slavery movements--United States
Michigan--History
Midwestern United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Michigan

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Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

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Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

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https://www.brucewolfe.com/frederick-douglass/]]> 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

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"Frederick Douglass: A Brief History." Hillsdale College Blog. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.hillsdale.edu/frederick-douglass/.

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"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/.

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"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/.

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"Frederick Douglass, Statue Unveiling at Hillsdale College." Bruce Wolfe. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.brucewolfe.com/frederick-douglass/.

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Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery (Nantes, France)]]> Slavery-Emancipation
Slavery-Abolition
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Nantes, France]]>
Memorial]]> ibliographic citation).]]> Bonder, Julian (architect)]]> here.]]> Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2012/04/memorial-by-krzysztof-wodiczko-and-julian-bonder-mdess-96-to/]]>
Memorial to the 2nd Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops (Fort Myers, FL)]]> Clayton]]> Men--United States Colored Troops
Associations--Military
American South
Public art
Public sculpture]]>
Commemorative sculpture]]> Clayton]]>
"This Memorial is Dedicated to The 2nd Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops and Companies D and I which Served at The Battle of Fort Myers.

On July 20, 1861,U.S. Army Officer Major French wrote to U.S. Naval Officer McKean, "I have information that a schooner fitted out as a slaver is in the Caloosahatchee River. Her appointments, I am told, are full...."

On February 20, 1865, Confederates of the 1st Battalion, Florida Special Cavalry attacked Fort Myers. The attack erupted into a cannon duel with the 2nd USCT in charge of artillery. The New York Times reported: "The colored soldiers [at Fort Myers] were in the thick of the fight. Unconscious of danger,their constant cry was to 'get at them'...." At nightfall, the Confederate force withdrew. A Confederate participant later recalled: "It was seen that nothing was accomplished."

The Battle of Fort Myers marked the final action of the 2nd USCT in South Florida. Companies D and I left Fort Myers in March of 1865. Fort Myers was then decommissioned.

USCT Troops freed and enlisted over 1,000 of the enslaved in Florida during the Civil War."

Inscription on right plaque:

"In Freedom Cover Me

The war between the states it's called to make us all one people one man's bullet is another man's death in this God makes us equal

The men who died in the fight today all knew this was the start of some new age yet undefined of which we're all a part

This Union Flag I stand beneath is what's protecting me from a life of moral death a life in slavery

When muskets fire if I should fall in freedom cover me with these stars from this flag like leaves from God's great tree

- Clayton"]]>
http://www.djwilkins.com/pages/2nd_USCT.htm]]>
Dred and Harriet Scott (St. Louis, MO)]]> Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery-Emancipation

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Scott, Dred, 1799-1858
Scott, Harriet, 1815-1876

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Commemorative sculpture]]> WikiData.]]> Inscription on base of work:
Dred and Harriet Scott filed suit for their freedom at this courthouse in 1846. Their case reached the United States Supreme Court and Was decided in 1857. The court ruled that the Scotts and all African Americans were not citizens of the United States. Opposition to the decision was one of the causes of the Civil War and led to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The Scotts' struggle for freedom stands as a defining moment in the history of the Civil Rights Movements.

Dedicated June 8, 2012
Gift of the Dred Schott Heritage Foundation
Harry Weber, Sculptor 

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]]> https://racstl.org/public-art/dred-and-harriet-scott/.]]>
Sojourner Truth Memorial Statue (Florence, MA)]]> Antislavery movements--United States
Abolitionists--United States
Women's Suffrage
Massachusetts--History
Public art
Public sculpture]]>
Truth, Sojourner, c. 1797 – November 26, 1883]]> Commemorative sculpture]]> 1958-]]> Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee]]> here.]]> Sojourner Truth’s signature]]> https://sojournertruthmemorial.org/about-us/memorial-statue/]]>