Washington, D.C., District of Columbia story
A Monument Funded by Freedom
Most monuments are funded by governments, but the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park has a different origin. This bronze statue, dedicated in 1876, was actually funded by forme…
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Most monuments are funded by governments, but the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park has a different origin. This bronze statue, dedicated in 1876, was actually funded by formerly enslaved people using their own wages. Designed by Thomas Ball, it depicts Abraham Lincoln and an enslaved man modeled on Archer Alexander.
The unveiling was a massive event; Frederick Douglass gave the keynote address before President Ulysses S. Grant and a crowd of over 25,000 people. For nearly a century, the statue faced west toward the U.S.
Capitol, but in 1974, it was rotated east to face the Mary McLeod Bethune memorial. It's a powerful piece of history paid for by the very people it honors.
Updated June 2026