The statue by Thomas Ball depicts a Black man, shirtless and on his knees, in front of a clothed and standing Abraham Lincoln. In one hand, Lincoln holds a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, while the other is stretched out over the Black man. Officials placed the statue under police guard and surrounded it with protective barriers after a group of demonstrators tore down a statue of former Confederate Albert Pike a few blocks away and threatened to do the same with the Lincoln statue. The Black man who modeled for Ball, Archer Alexander, was not freed by Lincoln but by his own actions. “There is room in Lincoln park for another monument, and I throw out this suggestion to the end that it may be taken up and acted upon.”Del.

Source: Washington Post December 29, 2020 21:18 UTC