Underground Railroad Sculpture (Oberlin, Ohio)

Underground Railroad Sculpture (Oberlin, Ohio)

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

Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

The Underground Railroad Sculpture commemorates Oberlin's role in the Underground Railroad. Wooden railroad tracks with iron ties emerge from the ground, reaching skyward. Cameron Armstrong (then a senior at Oberlin College) created the sculpture in 1977 as part of a class art project.

Armstrong, Cameron, 1956-

Photographs by Geoffrey Jacobson

1977

The Oberlin Class of 1977

Oberlin College, 38 E College Street, Oberlin, Ohio, 44074, United States

JPEG

English

Visual Arts-Sculpture

Talcott Hall, 2 S Professor Street, Oberlin, Ohio, 44074, United States

Bronze plaque with description of sculpture:
This sculpture commemorates Oberlin's participation in the Underground Railroad, a secret network to aid the escape of fugitive slaves to freedom in Canada in the years before the Civil War. It was designed and installed in Spring, 1977, by Cameron Armstrong, class of '77. Funding was provided by the Class of 1977 as their gift to the College.

Unknown

Wood; Steel

"Underground Railroad Statue." Oberlin College. Accessed April 30, 2021. https://www.oberlin.edu/underground-railroad-sculpture.

Renée Ater

Sculpture

Unknown