PRIME LIVING
Frederick Douglass
returns home
Steven Froias
On a recent episode of the podcast, “Why is this happening?”, hosted by Chris Hayes of MSNBC fame, the guest was historian David Blight. The topic was rethinking America’s statues, monuments, and memorials as the country grapples with its history.
Blight argues that the dialogue shouldn’t just include the history that needs to come down, but the history that needs to go up. His suggestion: America needs a memorial to Frederick Douglass, the former slave who became, as the title of Blight’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Douglass biography makes clear, the nation’s “Prophet of Freedom.” Well, David Blight is getting his wish! Because there is already a plan to erect a memorial to Frederick Douglass in the city where he first tasted freedom, found his name, and sharpened his oratory: New Bedford. As part of its ambitious Abolitionist Row Historic District project, the New Bedford Historical Society issued a “Call for Artists” last year that went out around the country and garnered 20 applications, according to its president, Lee Blake. The Douglass Memorial Committee reviewed all the applicants, and selected sculptor Richard Blake (no relation) for the project to create a Frederick Douglass memorial which will sit in the park that will be part of Abolitionist Row. Richard Blake lives and works in the Amish countryside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “As a sculptor, Richard focuses on historical figures with social significance. His compelling sculptures capture the
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realistic figure, the social context, and the spirit of the person,” Lee Blake writes. She further explains in a phone interview that, due to public input, the depiction of Frederick Douglass will be age appropriate to the time he really lived in New Bedford, as a young man of 20, and be very accessible. The sculpture will find Douglass seated on a bench, with the space to allow visitors to sit right alongside him.
The sculpture will find Douglass seated on a bench, with the space to allow visitors to sit right alongside him
One such visitor may very well be David Blight. Blake recounts that he has visited New Bedford several times, and in a sneak peek of future plans reveals that he will be returning for a discussion about the Underground Railroad in the not-toodistant future. The creation of the Abolitionist Row Historic District and Park, where the Dou-
S ep tember /O c tober 2020
glass memorial will find a home around September, 2021, has been a labor of love for Blake and represents an extraordinary accomplishment for herself, the Historical Society she leads, and the City of New Bedford.
Journey to freedom The journey began back in the 90s with the restoration of the Nathan and Polly Johnson House (actually two adjoining houses) on Seventh Street in New Bedford. Working with WHALE, the society brought the properties back to life and today open them to the public for tours. According to nbhistoricalsociety.org, “The Johnson House was home to African American abolitionists Nathan and Mary Johnson and served as an active Underground Railroad station. The Johnson House was the first home in freedom for Frederick and Anna Douglass who escaped enslavement from Maryland to New Bedford in 1838.” It’s also where Douglass literally became “Douglass.” Until then, he was known as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. But escaping slavery meant remaking his identity, and Nathan Johnson gave him the name “Douglass” in addition to refuge. As if that wasn’t historical enough, New Bedford is where Frederick Douglass honed his speaking and writing skills in city churches, developing the legendary arguments that would, as author Blight writes, fuel his legacy as a “Prophet of Freedom.” So, it is entirely appropriate that a Douglass memorial find a home in New
