Frank Smith is founding director of the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum.
Historians have opined that, despite all other actions during that season, it was Lincoln’s signing of this executive order that led to the legal end of slavery in Confederate states and ultimately set in motion the ratification of the 13th Amendment that ended the institution of slavery in the United States. That moment also represented the beginning of a new level of warfare for freedom, justice and equality in this country — a struggle in which we remain enthralled.
Amid the still painful issues of that struggle, which include police brutality, economic inequality and systemic racism, a question has repeatedly risen concerning the proper manner in which to honor Lincoln for his leadership. One of those debates is whether to remove the Emancipation Memorial in D.C.’s Lincoln Park, a statue of Lincoln standing by a formerly enslaved man who is crouched in broken chains. Is he rising in power? Or is he stooped over in degradation?
While that debate has its place, we believe an undoubtedly proper tribute to the noble legacy of Lincoln is underway in another part of the city — at the African American Civil War Memorial. Here, we are busy putting all of this history into context. Our $8 million Grimke building expansion project will include the unveiling of a six-foot bronze statue of Lincoln, frozen in time at the historic moment that he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
That statue will place Lincoln in appropriate context as it positions him directly across the street facing the “Spirit of Freedom” monument — our memorial honoring the 209,145 United States Colored Troops who, freed from enslavement, took up arms for freedom — and the Wall of Honor listing each of their names.
Those bold troops, alongside their White officers, are standing erect, battle-worn and battle-ready. We believe this is the description of the monument that abolitionist Frederick Douglass said he would like to see. In a newly discovered letter to the National Republican newspaper in 1876, Douglass says of the Lincoln Park statue: “The negro here, though rising, is still on his knees and nude.” He continued, “What I want to see before I die is a monument representing the negro, not couchant on his knees like a four-footed animal, but erect on his feet like a man.”
We also agree with Douglass’s statement that “no one monument can be made to tell the whole truth of any subject.” In this regard, however, there are facts that cannot be ignored. One of those facts is that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, thereby setting in motion our path to freedom. Of this, Douglass eulogized Lincoln as “the Black man’s president.”
The Lincoln statue was delivered to the African American Civil War Museum on June 19, better known as Juneteenth, the day in which the end of slavery is traditionally celebrated in the Black community. It was uncrated, inspected and placed in storage in the museum, where it will remain until it is installed in its permanent location on a ceremonial porch being constructed in front of the Grimke building. The monument is available for private viewing by appointment only.
As the nation wrestles with the question of which monuments should be removed, it is also looking forward to what elements might go up in their place. I recently heard renowned Yale University professor David W. Blight say more monuments should be established to Lincoln. We love Lincoln, and the Emancipation Proclamation places Lincoln on the side of the angels. But Lincoln works much better when adequately honored alongside the African American soldiers whose honor and sacrifice contributed to his war effort to keep the United States under one flag while purging this democracy of the awful scourge of slavery.
So as the debate continues, and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) has vowed to have the Lincoln Park statue removed and placed in a museum, let us prepare for yet another freedom celebration when — at the appropriate time — we will gather to pay homage to Lincoln and those whom he freed to stand upright on their feet like men, as Douglass put it. Men who fought for themselves and the nation they themselves had built.
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