Freedman's Memorial

Muhammad Ali’s Great 3X Grandfather is the Man Depicted that is not Abraham Lincoln. His name was Archer Alexander.

A good statue in a fairly good park. I like that it was purchased through voluntary contributions from the formerly enslaved and that it was the original and only Lincoln memorial until the larger one was built in the 1920s.

I’ve been torn about this memorial for a while. It’s white savior visuals left a foul taste in my mouth, but the inscription changed my mind. It was paid for by people freed by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the first donation was the very first dollar someone earned. Context is important and with the inscription it changes from a memorial to a white savior into a memorial to a man who tried to do what he thought was the right thing.

A very overlooked Park with significant history . Abraham Lincoln to Mary McLeod Bethune. Great conversation starter … Did you know???

Freemen donated to build it and so did black union soldiers. Fredrick Douglas spoke when it was put up. A Monument of a man that isn't kneeling anymore, but lifting his head up looking to the future. "Do not kneel before me, kneel only for your God." Abraham Lincoln.