Frederick Douglass Memorial (New York, New York)
Dublin Core
Title
Frederick Douglass Memorial (New York, New York)
Subject
Subject (Topic)
Antislavery movements--United States
Constellations
Enslaved peoples--Emancipation
Freedom
Public art
Public sculpture
New York (State)--New York
Antislavery movements--United States
Constellations
Enslaved peoples--Emancipation
Freedom
Public art
Public sculpture
New York (State)--New York
Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895
Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture
Commemorative sculpture
Description
Standing to the right of a lectern, Gabriel Koren modeled Frederick Douglass as an elder statesman, with a furrowed brow and a deeply lined face. Resting his right hand atop the lectern, Douglass’ mouth is closed as he stares resolutely forward. Algernon Miller designed the granite seating and paving patterns, which are based on traditional African-American quilt motifs, as well as a bronze perimeter fence with a wagon wheel motif. Miller also created a bronze water wall that shows the Big Dipper constellation with the North Star. Quotations from Douglass embellish the site.
Creator
Koren, Gabriel, 1947-
Miller, Algernon, 1945-
Source
Photographs by Renée Ater
Date
September 20, 2011
Contributor
NYC Percent for Art, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs; Mark Bunnell of Quenell Rothschild & Partners (landscape architects); and Polich-Tallix (foundry).
Rights
NYC Parks, The Arsenal, Central Park, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, 10065, United States
Format
JPEG
Language
English
Type
Visual Arts-Sculpture
Coverage
301 Frederick Douglass Circle , New York, New York, 10026, United States
Has Part
Inscription on granite block 1:
Born Frederick Augustus Bailey, 1818, Talbot county, Maryland.
Born Frederick Augustus Bailey, 1818, Talbot county, Maryland.
Inscription on granite block 2:
Married Anna Murray in 1838, who died in 1882.
Married Anna Murray in 1838, who died in 1882.
Inscription on granite block 3:
Married Helen Pitts in 1884.
Married Helen Pitts in 1884.
Inscription on granite block 4:
"Whatever may be said as to a division of duties and avocations, the rights of man and the rights of woman are one and inseparable, and stand upon the same indestructible basis." -1851
"Whatever may be said as to a division of duties and avocations, the rights of man and the rights of woman are one and inseparable, and stand upon the same indestructible basis." -1851
Inscription on granite block 5:
"The flight was a bold and perilous one; but here I am, in the great city of new york, safe and sound, without the loss of blood or bone." -1855
"The flight was a bold and perilous one; but here I am, in the great city of new york, safe and sound, without the loss of blood or bone." -1855
Inscription on granite block 6:
"Such is my detestation of slavery, that I would keep the merciless slaveholder profoundly ignorant of the means of flight adopted by the slave. he should be left to imagine himself surrounded by myriads of invisible tormentors..." -1855
"Such is my detestation of slavery, that I would keep the merciless slaveholder profoundly ignorant of the means of flight adopted by the slave. he should be left to imagine himself surrounded by myriads of invisible tormentors..." -1855
Inscription on granite block 7:
"Of my father I know nothing. Slavery had no recognition of fathers, as none of families." -1845
"Of my father I know nothing. Slavery had no recognition of fathers, as none of families." -1845
Inscription on granite block 8:
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation...Want crops without plowing up the ground...They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters...Power concedes nothing without a demand." -1857
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation...Want crops without plowing up the ground...They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters...Power concedes nothing without a demand." -1857
Inscription on pavement:
"Right is of no sex - truth is of no color - god is the father of us all, and we are all brethren" -Masthead of the North Star
"Right is of no sex - truth is of no color - god is the father of us all, and we are all brethren" -Masthead of the North Star
Inscription on north end of fountain.
Frederick Douglass
1818-1895
Born into slavery in Maryland, Frederick Bailey found the way to freedom along the underground railroad in 1838. Disguised as a sailor, he traveled to manhattan by ship, and found shelter at the house of abolitionist David Ruggles on Lispenard Street. There, he awaited the arrival of his fiancee, Anna Murray, a free black woman from Maryland. They married, and together continued bailey's freedom journey to Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Douglass. Lauded for his oration, he became a prominent abolitionist and purchased his legal freedom from slavery. Publisher of the abolitionist journal the north star, he championed freedom for all Americans and endorsed women's suffrage. Douglass later held posts as assistant secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission (1871), Marshall of the District of Columbia (1877-1881) and U.S. Minister to Haiti (1889-1891). Following the death of his wife in 1884, Douglass married Helen Pitts. He died in Washington, D.C. On February 20, 1895.
Frederick Douglass
1818-1895
Born into slavery in Maryland, Frederick Bailey found the way to freedom along the underground railroad in 1838. Disguised as a sailor, he traveled to manhattan by ship, and found shelter at the house of abolitionist David Ruggles on Lispenard Street. There, he awaited the arrival of his fiancee, Anna Murray, a free black woman from Maryland. They married, and together continued bailey's freedom journey to Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Douglass. Lauded for his oration, he became a prominent abolitionist and purchased his legal freedom from slavery. Publisher of the abolitionist journal the north star, he championed freedom for all Americans and endorsed women's suffrage. Douglass later held posts as assistant secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission (1871), Marshall of the District of Columbia (1877-1881) and U.S. Minister to Haiti (1889-1891). Following the death of his wife in 1884, Douglass married Helen Pitts. He died in Washington, D.C. On February 20, 1895.
Inscription on south end of fountain:
Gabriel Koren, sculptor
Algernon Miller, site artist
December 2005
Gabriel Koren, sculptor
Algernon Miller, site artist
December 2005
Inscription across fountain with constellations:
"The types of mankind are various. They differ like the waves, but they are one like the sea."
". . . Under the flickering light of the north star behind some craggy hill or snow covered mountain, stood a doubtful freedom - half frozen - beckoning us to come and share its hospitality."
"The types of mankind are various. They differ like the waves, but they are one like the sea."
". . . Under the flickering light of the north star behind some craggy hill or snow covered mountain, stood a doubtful freedom - half frozen - beckoning us to come and share its hospitality."
Extent
96 in. (243.84 cm)
Medium
Bronze; Granite
Bibliographic Citation
"Frederick Douglass Memorial." Central Park, Monuments, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Accessed October 31, 2019. https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/monuments/2098.
Cooper Hewett, Smithsonian Design Museum. "Harlem Focus: Public Monuments: Art in Collaboration with Landscape Design." May 9, 2013. Accessed May 23, 2020. https://www.cooperhewitt.org/tag/algernon-miller/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=5K_LVkcVq-g&feature=emb_logo.
Rights Holder
Renée Ater
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Sculpture
Physical Dimensions
96 in. (243.84 cm)
Collection
Citation
Koren, Gabriel, 1947- and Miller, Algernon, 1945-, “Frederick Douglass Memorial (New York, New York),” Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past, accessed October 1, 2026, https://mail.slaverymonuments.org/items/show/1187.