Washington, D.C., District of Columbia story
A Monument Funded by Wages
Most monuments are funded by governments or wealthy donors, but the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park was different. This bronze statue, dedicated in 1876, was actually funded…
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Most monuments are funded by governments or wealthy donors, but the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park was different. This bronze statue, dedicated in 1876, was actually funded by formerly enslaved people using their own earned wages. One of the first contributions was a five-dollar donation from Charlotte Scott in 1865.
When it was unveiled on the eleventh anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's death, the crowd exceeded twenty-five thousand people, and Frederick Douglass gave the keynote address in the presence of President Ulysses S. Grant. It stands as a powerful testament to the agency and determination of those who fought for and won their own freedom.
Updated June 2026