Frederick Douglass Monument (College Park, Maryland)

Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument on Hornbake Plaza at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument  at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Photograph of  Frederick Douglass Monument at the University of Maryland, College Park. Side view with Douglass's raised arm.
Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument at the University of Maryland, College Park. Back view of Douglass's swirling cape.
Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument at the University of Maryland, College Park. Detail of Douglass's face.
Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument at the University of Maryland, College Park. Detail of the Corten steel panel with Frederick Douglass quotation, "The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but [it] must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will."
Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument at the University of Maryland, College Park.  Detail of the Corten steel panel with Frederick Douglass quotation, "No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."
Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument at the University of Maryland, College Park. Detail of Corten steel panel with Frederick Douglass quotation, "He who does not love Justice and Liberty for all, does not love Justice and Liberty."
Photograph of Frederick Douglass Monument at the University of Maryland, College Park. Detail of Corten steel panel with Frederick Douglass quotation, "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color."

Dublin Core

Title

Frederick Douglass Monument (College Park, Maryland)

Subject

Subject (Topic)
Antislavery movements--United States
Freedom
Maryland--College Park
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Maryland

Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

Description

Located on the large brick plaza outside Hornbake Library at the University of Maryalnd, the full-size sculpture of Frederick Douglass portrays him in the middle of a speech with his mouth open and his brown deeply furrowed. His right arm is outstretched, and he grasps a copy of his autobiography in his left hand. His coat/cape billows out behind him in a swath of bronze, suggesting vigorous action as he steps foward. Douglass's name is inscribed on the black granite base.

Creator

Edwards, Andrew, 1965-

Source

Photographs by Renée Ater

Date

November 18, 2015

Contributor

Ira Berlin and the North Stars; Facilities Management-UMD; Private donors; UMD Foundation; Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture; Maryland Historical Trust

Rights

University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, United States

Format

JPEG

Language

English

Type

Visual Arts-Sculpture

Coverage

Frederick Douglass Square, University of Maryland, 4130 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20742, United States

Alternative Title

Frederick Douglass Ireland Monument

Has Part

Quotations on plaza bricks:
"I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot County, Maryland."

"I am a Marylander, and love Maryland and her people."

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

"The blow we strike is not merely to free a country or continent--but the whole world from Slavery--for when Slavery falls here it will fall everywhere."

"Until it shall be safe to leave the lamb in the hold of the lion, the laborer in power of the capitalist, the poor in the hands of the rich, it will not be safe to leave a newly emancipated people completely in the power of their former masters, especially when such masters have not ceased to be such from enlightened moral convictions but by irresistible force."

"Education means . . . emancipation."

"This right of speech is very dear to the hearts of intelligent lovers of liberty."

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

"All that distinguishes man as an intelligent and accountable being, is equally true of woman . . . there can be no reason in the world for denying a woman the exercise of the elective franchise or a hand in the making and administering the laws of the land."

"In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights, and a common destiny."

Inscription on black granite base:
Frederick Douglass 1818-1895
Abolitionist, Suffragist, Labor Leader
Stateman, Diplomat, Founding Father of the Second American Republic
Orator, Scholar, Journalist

Quotations on Corten steel panels:
"The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but [it] must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will."

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."

"He who does not love Justice and Liberty for all, does not love Justice and Liberty."

"Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color."

Inscription on bronze plaque:
The University of Maryland is grateful to the many individuals and organizations, particularly the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture as well as the Maryland Historic Trust, part of the Maryland Department of Planning, who generously supported the creation of Frederick Douglass Square.

Has Version

Frederick Douglass Monument, Quinnipiac University School of Law, 2018

Extent

Statue: 90 in. (228.6 cm)
Base: 36 in. (91.44 cm)

Medium

Bronze; Black granite; Brick; Corten steel

Bibliographic Citation

Arnett, Autumn A. “At UMD, New Frederick Douglass Square Illustrates State’s Racial Duality." Diverse Issues in Higher Education, November 24, 2015. Accessed November 23, 2018. https://diverseeducation.com/article/79147/.

Frederick Douglass Remembered. Ireland's Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University. Accessed November 26, 2018. https://www.qu.edu/academics/centers-and-institutes/irelands-great-hunger-institute/.

Rights Holder

Renée Ater

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Sculpture

Physical Dimensions

Statue: 90 in. (228.6 cm)
Base: 36 in. (91.44 cm)

Citation

Edwards, Andrew, 1965-, “Frederick Douglass Monument (College Park, Maryland),” Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.slaverymonuments.org/items/show/62.

Geolocation