Emancipation Memorial

1876

A memorial funded by formerly enslaved people raises controversy.

Charlotte Scott, a 60-year-old formerly enslaved woman, gave five dollars for a memorial to Abraham Lincoln the day after his assassination. Her initial donation sparked a campaign that raised $18,000, and a memorial was built that featured Abraham Lincoln holding a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. The bronze sculpture, designed by Thomas Ball, also featured a kneeling Black man in the process of rising and breaking his chains. Some viewers, including Frederick Douglass, were dissatisfied with the sculpture, believing it showed the Black man in a submissive posture. These views came into focus in 2020 when some activists and politicians sought to replace or recontextualize the memorial.