Protesters in Washington, D.C., are preparing to tear down the Emancipation Memorial, a monument dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. It depicts the former president standing over a freed slave, beckoning him to rise, as the slave looks upwards.
This depiction is problematic, according to the protesters. They believe it embodies the “disempowerment of black people that is forced upon us by white people.” Multiple D.C. officials, including the city’s delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, seem to agree with this characterization because they’ve called for the statue’s removal — albeit through an orderly and democratic process.
But this characterization simply is not true. Marcia Cole, a member of the African American Civil War Museum’s Female Re-Enactors of Distinction program, explained that the freed slave isn’t kneeling before Lincoln, as some have argued, and he isn’t servile. Instead, he’s looking up — not at Lincoln, but towards freedom. The chain on his arm has been broken, and he’s preparing to stand and walk free because he is finally able to do so.
Moreover, the statue’s history is an important testament to hard-earned freedom and civil rights. The monument was paid for and dedicated by black people, many of whom had been former slaves. The day in which the monument was unveiled was declared a federal holiday, and representatives of the entire U.S. government came together to bear witness to this historic moment. The great Frederick Douglass commemorated the day and spoke of freedom, Abraham Lincoln, and how Lincoln rose to the occasion and fought not just to keep the Union together, but to secure the rights of every man, woman, and child “under his rule.”
In many ways, Douglass’s speech on that day perfectly sums up the monument: He recognized Lincoln’s faults but honored his memory and used it to demand justice for the many black people in the United States who were still being crushed by a South that rejected Reconstruction. Similarly, the Emancipation Memorial is an imperfect representation of an imperfect man. But it is a testament to his legacy, to freedom, and to the great struggle that for so long defined this country.
Removing the statue from Lincoln Park would be a disservice to those who fought to put it there. And it would be a disservice to the entire country, which would do well to remember that freedom came at great cost and should never be taken for granted again.
