Philadelphia Public Art @philart.net
Person: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Memorial to Enslaved People of African Descent in the United States of America
2010
* Quotes from Maya Angelou,
Frederick Douglass,
W.E.B. Du Bois,
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
and
Barack Obama
* enclosed space,
ideas
* This piece features an extensive amount of text,
including African sayings,
symbols, and a list of African countries.
Reproduced here as inscriptions are the text of the plaque, and the
quotes from named individuals.
This memorial does not seem to have an official name.
The name used is shortened from the text of the
plaque.
The plaque simply labels it "Memorial."
The National Park Service web site calls it
"a memorial to enslaved Africans."
Avenging the Ancestors calls it the "Slavery Memorial."
The last picture, of the wall with the names of the enslaved people who lived in the President's House, is part of the President's House exhibit and not the Memorial.
* inscription:
"Either America will destroy ignorance or
ignorance will destroy the United States."
-W.E.B. Du Bois
"I ask no monument proud and high
to arrest the gaze of the passers-by,
all that my yearning spirit craves, is
bury me not in a land of slaves."
-Frances Ellen Watkin Harper
"You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought, sold, stolen,
arriving on a nightmare praying for a dream."
-Maya Angelou
"We gave sought to bind the chains
of slavery on the limbs of the black man, without thinking that at last we should find
the other end of
that hateful chain about our own necks."
-Frederick Douglass
"It was whispered by slaves and
abolitionists as they blazed a trail
toward freedom... yes we can, yes we can."
-Barack Obama
This enclosed space is dedicated to millions of men,
women, and children of African descent who lived,
worked, and died as enslaved people in the United
States of America. They should never again be
forgotten. One of two smokehouse rooms in which
three enslaved men slept - Giles, Paris, and Austin -
once stood in this area. The close proximity to
the Liberty Bell Center reminds us that Liberty was
not originally intended for all.
It is difficult to understand how men who spoke
so passionately of liberty and freedom were unable
to see the contradiction, the injustice, and the
immorality of their actions. Enslaved Africans and
their descendants endured brutality and mistreatment
for over 200 years even as their labor build and
enriched the nation. The struggle for freedom
and political, social, and economic equality
continued even after the legal standing of
slavery. The devestating effects of slavery continue
to affect race relations to this day. Yet, we must
continue to strive for the ideals embodied in the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
of the United States of America.
The African symbols, words, and quotations on the
exterior and interior walls speak to the spirit of
hope, the resiliance of the human spirit, and the
determination of a people to arise out of bondage to
freedom.
City of Philadelphia | National Park Service
* Southeast corner, 6th and Market.
* 39.950300,-75.150050 [map] [nearby]
* On the Independence Mall tour
* Exhibits: Black Lives,
Labor
* See also:
+wikipedia.org's Maya Angelou page
+wikipedia.org's Frederick Douglass page
+wikipedia.org's W.E.B. Du Bois page
+wikipedia.org's Barack Obama page
