Gateway to Freedom: International Memorial to the Underground Railroad (Detroit, Michigan)

Gateway to Freedom: International Memorial to the Underground Railroad (Detroit, Michigan)

Subject (Topic)
Antislavery movements--United States
Freedom
Fugitive slaves--United States
Michigan--Detroit
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad

Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

Two gateway pillars (approximately fifteen feet tall), topped with candles symbolizing the “Flame of Freedom,” flank Ed Dwight's memorial to the Underground Railroad. The work, which overlooks the Detroit River, includes a ten-by-twelve-foot sculptural group: eight freedom seekers and an Underground Railroad conductor, who gazes and points towards Canada. Dwight modeled the conductor after George DeBaptiste, a freeman from Virginia who migrated to Detroit in 1846. DeBaptiste was an active abolitionist, Underground Railroad operative, and leader of the Vigilant Committee of Detroit, a watchdog and legal advocacy group for the black community.

Panels with engravings of quilt squares appear on either side of the figural group. Here, Dwight appears to be referencing one of the most popular myths surrounding the Underground Railroad: “Freedom Quilts,” objects said to have been created by passengers of the Underground Railroad and hung in windows as coded maps or guideposts for escapees on the run. The base of the sculpture is adorned with an engraving of a lantern set inside a windowsill.

Dwight, Ed, 1933-

Photograph: Waymaking

October 20, 2001

Detroit 300; International Underground Railroad Monument Collaborative (now the Michigan Underground Railroad Exploratory Collective)

City of Detroit, 2 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, 48226, United States

JPEG

English

Visual Arts-Sculpture

Hart Plaza, 1 Hart Plaza, Detroit, Michigan, 48226, United States

Inscription on base:
Until Emancipation, Detroit and the Detroit River community served as the gateway to freedom for thousands of African American people escaping enslavement. Detroit was one of the largest terminals of the Underground Railroad, a network of abolitionists aiding enslaved people seeking freedom. Detroit's Underground Railroad code name was Midnight. At first, Michigan was a destination for freedom seekers, but Canada became a safer sanctuary after slavery was abolished there in 1834. With passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, many runaways left their homes in Detroit and crossed the river to Canada to remain free. Some returned after Emancipation in 1863.

The successful operation of Detroit's Underground Railroad was due to the effort and cooperation of diverse groups of people, including people of African descent, Whites, and North American Indians. This legacy of freedom is a vital part of Detroit and its history.

Plaque on the back of the memorial:
International Memorial to the Underground Railroad
The Gateway to Freedom
Ed Dwight- Sculptor
Dedicated October 20, 2001

With companion work Tower of Freedom in the Civic Esplande, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

A project of the Detroit 300 and the International Underground Railroad Monument Collaborative.

120 x 120 x 144 in. (304.8 x 304.8 x 365.76 cm)

Bronze; Pink 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

120 x 120 x 144 in. (304.8 x 304.8 x 365.76 cm)