Prairie Boat (Chicago, Illinois)]]> African Americans--Chicago (Ill.)
Chicago (Ill.)--History
American Midwest
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad]]>
Heroes); Jittaun Priest (painter, Past, Present, Future); Osei Agyeman-Badu (painter, Underground Railroad Quilts); Kadija Stallings (painter, Slavery and Ancestry); Ajiah Gilbert (log path painter); Leslie Leon-Aguilar (log path painter); Maybelline Mariscal (log path painter); Craig Klucina of Plane-Spoken Furniture (prow, portal roof); Greencorps Chicago (landscaper); Juliette Tyson, Mission Coordinator, Imani Village, (community partner); Imani Village (project partner); Field Museum of Natural History (project partner); Openlands (project partner); Forest Preserves of Cook County (project partner); Far South Chicago Coalition (project partner); Walder Foundation (funder); Illinois Department of Natural Resources (funder); Coastal Management Program (funder); and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce) (funder).]]> Historical Marker:

"From the 1830s until the Civil War, many enslaved African descendants in the South escaped to Chicago on their way to freedom in Canada. Black and white abolitionists in the region were part of the networks of assistance known as the Underground Railroad. The old Detroit-Chicago Road was an important route for freedom seekers, and some followed this, crossing the Little Calumet River at the site of the current bridge at Indiana Avenue several blocks west of here. Their movement became far more dangerous after 1850 with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act that strengthened the laws requiring the capture and return of enslaved persons to their 'owners.'"

"After the removal of indigenous people living along the Little Calumet, by 1835 families from eastern states were settling here. Dutch settlers arrived in 1847-49, acquiring land in areas that became Roseland and South Holland. These included Cornelius and Maartje Kuyper, and Jan and Aagje Ton. Here, on the north side of the Little Calumet, the Ton farm was established in 1853. Their home and farm buildings were on this site. The Tons, often with the Kuypers, were directly involved in aiding freedom seekers. From here, they went by wagon or on foot across the bridge at Indiana Avenue to Hammond, Indiana, and eventually crossing into Canada from Detroit."

"Sponsored by The Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project, The National Park Service Network To Freedom, Ronald Gaines and Family, The William G. Pomeroy Foundation, and the Illinois State Historical Society."

2022

https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=536

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Prairie Boat Gathering Space Galleries—Artist Statements:


Gallery 1. Patrick Thompson, Heroes

“The art that I created for the Imani Village project began with the understanding of two factors. The first factor indicates that the project would be located on the site of a stop on the Underground Railroad, in Beaubien Woods. I painted a portrait of the major abolitionist of the time, Frederick Douglass. The second portrait is of Ida B. Wells, who was a civil rights activist and champion against lynching. The next illustration is the figure of Harriet Tubman in the woods, armed with a loaded rifle, ready to lead enslaved people to freedom. Then there’s the illustration of slaves escaping bondage. The second factor in my choice of subject matter was revealing the connection of some of the Tuskegee Airmen to a training program for pilots at nearby Robbins. Two panels are combined in a diptych of the heroic airmen and their WWII aircraft.”


Gallery 2. Jittaun Priest,
Past, Present, Future 
“I wanted to reflect something positive, educational, and modernist art. I went from dark and somber to bright and hopeful. Some of the colors represent the Imani Village logo and images placed within the pieces, like the buildings on the top of the mountain they are pointing to, a tractor tire, and the windmill. My artwork shows a journey from when we were living in Africa to our being captured and brought over to the states. Despite any challenges African Americans face, we still have a strong level of discernment and always persevere. I symbolically showed this through images of people dancing, praising, looking up, and pointing toward something better. It also depicts knowledge of education, agriculture, energy, and the importance of family and community to grow and be better to break the cycle of mental and physical slavery. The last piece reflects hope and possibilities of what is yet to come. Aaron Douglas, a well-known artist in the Harlem Renaissance era, inspired this collection.” 


Gallery 3. Osei Agyeman-Badu, Underground Railroad Quilts 
“I am an art educator located on Chicago's South Side. The paintings are examples of the communication signs used during the Underground Railroad. In these desperate times, secrecy and trust went hand in hand. Symbols were guides and signs of danger; enslaved people brave enough to seek freedom had help from those who opposed this horrific industry. Thinking one step ahead of the enslavers, abolitionists used symbols incorporated into quilts to communicate with other abolitionists and brave enslaved people who sought freedom from their oppressors.” 


Gallery 4. Kadija Stallings, Slavery and Ancestry 
Kadija Robinson-Stallings is a visual artist from the South Side of Chicago. Her art shares the struggles of African people during the time of enslavement. Throughout these works you will see African patterns and symbols that express the anguish and courage Black people had during this time in history. Kadija chose to take this angle in her art because it is a part of her culture and it’s the truth that many other people of color share. 

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carved limestone seats; carved capitals on top of portal log columns; 24 one-foot-square cedar panel paintings attached to concrete benches]]> Chicago Sun Times, June 16, 2023. Accessed February 7, 2024. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/6/16/23760926/prairie-boat-highlight-attention-work-beaubien-woods]]> Chicago Tribune, June 13, 2023. Accessed February 4, 2024. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2023/06/13/column-beaubien-woods-new-prairie-boat-offers-place-to-gather-and-celebrate-calumet-region-heritage/]]>
Freedmen's Memorial to Abraham Lincoln (Washington, DC)]]> Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Enslaved persons-Emancipation-United States
Public art
Public sculpture
United States President (1861-1865 : Lincoln) Emancipation Proclamation]]>
"On the Removal of Statues": Ball’s composition includes two figures, one fully clothed, the other semi-nude. Due to the dozens of photographs that survive from the 1860s, we recognize that the standing bearded man is Abraham Lincoln. Dressed in a shirt with tie, a long coat, and trousers, Lincoln stands upright with most of his weight on one leg, in "contrapposto." Clothing and posture civilize Lincoln, marking his intelligence and morality. The kneeling man, a newly emancipated enslaved person, is semi-nude. The only article of clothing that he wears is a piece of cloth draped from his waist to the edge of his buttocks. The sinewy muscles are clearly delineated in the man’s arms, legs, and abdominal muscles. Modeled with short curly hair, the former slave is also shown with a distinctive broad nose, signifying his African ancestry. We know from the historical record that former slave Archer Alexander was “the model” for the freedman."]]>
North to Freedom (Brewer, Maine)]]> Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Fugitive slaves--United States
Northeastern United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad

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Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture]]>
Hines, Glenn M., 1950-

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Information plaque:

Chamberlain Freedom Park
State of Maine Underground Railroad Memorial

The Brewer Historical Society created this park to honor Civil War hero General Joshua L. Chamberlain, a Brewer native. The park also commemorates Maine's  role as a stop on the "Underground Railroad" used by runaway slaves to reach freedom in Canada.

A statue of an unknown slave lifts himself, leaning North while looking South, from an underground railroad tunnel uncovered during construction in 1995. The "North to Freedom" statue, by Maine sculptors Glenn and Dianna Hines, represents all who made the dangerous journeys along the "Underground Railroad."

Landscape design: Dick Campbell
Historic Interpretation: Brian Higgins]]>
Bangor Daily News, September 1, 2012. Accessed April 30, 2021, https://bangordailynews.com/2012/09/01/news/bangor/north-to-freedom-statue-in-brewer-only-official-maine-memorial-to-underground-railroad/.]]> Chamberlain Freedom Park, 12 State Street, Brewer, Maine, 04412, United States
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Lorain Underground Station 100 Monument (Lorain, Ohio)]]> Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Fugitive slaves--United States
Midwestern United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad

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Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture]]>
Visit Lorain County Blog.]]> Historic marker:

Prior to the Civil War, Ohio was a leading state for enslaved Americans of African descent traveling the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada. For these fugitives, their final stop in Ohio was a Lake Erie port community in the north. One such port was at the mouth of the Black River in Lorain that came to be identified as Lorain Station 100, named because it was thought to be one of the last stops or stations before the fugitive slaves reached freedom in Canada. Many arrived here in a wagon driven by Robbins Burrell who owned a farm five miles up the Black River. Concealed by vegetables, grains, or hay, the slaves were smuggled into schooners, some of which belonged to Burrell’s cousin Captain Aaron Root. From Lorain Station 100, the determined travelers were transported across Lake Erie, completing the final leg of their long journey to freedom.

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The Historical Marker Database (HMD). Accessed April 30, 2021, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=143281.]]> https://issuu.com/visitloraincnty/docs/urr.loraincounty.]]>
Underground Railroad Sculpture (Oberlin, OH)]]> Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Fugitive slaves--United States
Midwestern United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Underground Railroad

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Commemorative sculpture]]> Oberlin College.]]> https://www.oberlin.edu/underground-railroad-sculpture.]]>
Dred and Harriet Scott (St. Louis, MO)]]> Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery-Emancipation

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Scott, Dred, 1799-1858
Scott, Harriet, 1815-1876

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Commemorative sculpture]]> WikiData.]]> Inscription on base of work:
Dred and Harriet Scott filed suit for their freedom at this courthouse in 1846. Their case reached the United States Supreme Court and Was decided in 1857. The court ruled that the Scotts and all African Americans were not citizens of the United States. Opposition to the decision was one of the causes of the Civil War and led to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The Scotts' struggle for freedom stands as a defining moment in the history of the Civil Rights Movements.

Dedicated June 8, 2012
Gift of the Dred Schott Heritage Foundation
Harry Weber, Sculptor 

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]]> https://racstl.org/public-art/dred-and-harriet-scott/.]]>
The Whitney Plantation Museum (Wallace, Louisiana)]]> Dwellings--Louisiana
Plantations--Louisiana
Slavery
Sugar--Social aspects--History
United States--Louisiana--St. John the Baptist Parish--Wallace

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History Museums]]> The Whitney Plantation]]> Whitney Plantation website.]]> ]]>
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https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/telling-the-story-of-slavery.]]>
Henry "Box" Brown Memorial (Richmond, Virginia)]]> Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Mid-Atlantic United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Emancipation

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Brown, Henry "Box," 1816-1897

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Commemorative sculpture]]>
The memorial includes a bronze crate meant to resemble the wooden one that Brown used. The crate is open and an outline of a crouching human figure is inscribed on the back panel of the box. An informational placard is sited near the sculpture, which details the history of slavery in Richmond and Brown's escape.]]>
Henry "Box" Brown]]> Inscriptions on five sides of box:
"Buoyed by the prospect of Freedom...I was willing to dare even death itself."

"The idea flashed across my mind of shutting myself up in a box, and getting myself conveyed... to a free state."

"I laid me down in my darkened home of three feet by two feet."

"My friends...managed to break open the box, and then came my resurrection from the grave of slavery"

"I arose a free man"

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An inscription on the stone base:
"In a wooden crate similar to this one, Henry Brown, a Richmond tobacco worker, made the journey from slavery to freedom in 1849"]]>
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Spirit of Freedom (Hamilton, Bermuda)]]> Sarah Bassett]]> Hamilton (Bermuda Islands)--History
Slavery--Bermuda Islands
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Resistance

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Sarah (Sally) Bassett, d. 1730

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Commemorative sculpture]]> Spirit of Freedom, she is shown with her hand and feet bound, as she gazes defiantly upward.]]> Monument Lab]]> The lower step of the base of the statue is divided into six segments. The segments are inscribed with events from Sarah Bassett Life:

Sarah (Sally) Bassett

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Owned by the estate of Francis Dickinson of Southampton]]>
The African diaspora heritage trail - Bermuda Officially designated a UNESCO slave route project]]>
Monument Lab, May 4, 2020. Accessed February 15, 2021: https://monumentlab.com/bulletin/revealing-sally-unveiling-bermudas-resistance-to-confront-its-brutal-past]]> The Bermudian, April 10, 2019. Accessed May 1, 2021, https://www.thebermudian.com/heritage/heritage-heritage/searing-memories/.]]>
Camp Barker Memorial (Washington, DC)]]> Civil War
Refugee camps--History--19th century
Fugitive slaves--United States
Slaves--Emancipation--United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Mid-Atlantic United States

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Commemorative sculpture]]> After Architecture, 2019.]]> After Architecture

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After Architecture]]> Portal widths: 78 in. (198.12 cm.) to 192 in. (502.92 cm.) ]]> Architectonic. Accessed May 3, 2021, https://www.architonic.com/en/project/after-architecture-camp-barker-memorial/20076736.]]>