Boston takes down statue of Lincoln freeing a slave

A statue known as the Emancipation Group Memorial in Boston's Park Square was removed on Tuesday after months of debate among city officials, some of whom claimed the statue was racist.

The statue depicts a President Abraham Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation in one hand as he extends his other hand over a formerly enslaved black man kneeling before him. An inscription on the statue — also known as the Freedman's Memorial — reads, "A race set free/and the country at peace/Lincoln/Rests from his labors."

Tory Bullock, a Dorchester native and social media influencer, started a petition earlier this year to remove the sculpture, saying, "My issue is not America and my issue is not freedom, it is the naked black man sitting in front that I have a problem with."

More than 12,000 signed the petition, and the Boston Art Commission voted unanimously in June to take down the memorial, which has stood in a park near Boston Common since 1879.

"It's an amazing funeral, I'm here to provide a silent eulogy for this piece of artwork that's been here for 141 years," Bullock told WBZ-TV on Tuesday as the statue was taken down and hauled away on a flatbed truck.

"I'm proud, I'm black, and I'm young. This image has been doing a lot of disservice to African-Americans in Boston and now it stops."

But others argued that memorial was actually intended to praise Lincoln's efforts to free the slaves. And some noted that the original statue — which still stands in Washington, D.C. — was actually paid for by former slaves as a tribute to Lincoln.

"The piece contained two figures: Lincoln and a newly freed slave, just rising from his knees and grasping a broken chain," The Washington Post reported. "This statue, which still stands in Lincoln Park, was erected with contributions from hundreds of former slaves who wanted to pay tribute to the man who had proclaimed their freedom in 1863."

The Post said the broken chain was intended to make it clear that the slave was "an eager participant in his own liberation."

The sculpture of the slave is based on Archer Alexander, a black man who assisted the Union Army, escaped slavery and became the last man recaptured under the Fugitive Slave Act.

"The Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture and the Boston Art Commission began a public engagement process over the summer that led to the decision to remove and relocate the Emancipation Group statue," a spokesman for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said. "As expressed by so many during the public process this year, we fully agree that the statue should be relocated to a new publicly accessible location where its history and context can be better explained."

"The statue is being stored in a controlled storage facility in South Boston until a new location is determined," the spokesman said.

WBZ-TV said the commission is now weighing ideas on how to move the statue "into a setting with a more historical context."