Our house is just around the corner from Lincoln Park which was intended to be the geographic center of DC by design. When the capital was built, what is now the Mall was a swamp covered by the Potomac. This is the monument to Lincoln that was commissioned by freed slaves, the first of which was Charlotte Scott - a freed woman of Virginia. She donated her first $5 earned in freedom. Below is a plaque that explains that all funds were contributed solely be emancipated citizens of the United States by his proclamation January 1, 1863.
Two things here strike me as "post-worthy" regarding the accuracy and design of park's monument. The first point pricked my interest when I came across the Currier and Ives lithograph, Freedom to the Slaves, found in the National Portrait Gallery. It points out that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 declared freedom only to those slaves in the eleven CONFEDERATE states that had seceded. Contrary to what the plaque says, emancipation in the United States didn't happen until 1865 when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. Is it common knowledge that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free all slaves? Was I just not listening that day to Dr. Fox during American Heritage? (BTW - I haven't talk to Marco about this yet. He would know all this backwards and forwards. What, just because he has taught Constitutional Law means he has all the answers? Pretty Much, yes.)
Discuss.
The second, and much more obvious issue, is how both 1860's images belie a Victorian view of freedom for the slaves. Both show Lincoln towering over a subservient, kneeing "freedman". His gesture is hardly the stance of empowerment and emancipation. Discuss.
What ever the initial intent of the memorial was, I don't think Charlotte Scott envisioned our every day Lincoln Park scene -- 60 year old gay couple and their 5 dogs. (I love this city.)
Discuss.
6 comments:
There is a lot to discuss in that post. I will just comment on this: I don't think any of the founding fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers ever envisioned our great nation falling into such lackadaisicalness. Our nations capital has literally gone to the dogs! HeeHee.
I'm going to ponder on this today and report back.
I didn't know that much about the Emancipation Proclamation and seeing as how I took American Heritage 4 times, it's no wonder. I probably would do much better at school nowadays, at least I would hope so.
I did a little research on the sculptor of the piece, Thomas Bell. It seems that he is a fan of creating sculptures of upright men standing next to a pedestal of some sort. Seeing as how the Emancipation sculpture was commissioned by freed slaves, they probably didn't have enough money to afford anything by Rodin. You would think they could have gotten the woman sculptor who made the Bethesda fountain in Central Park though.
In reference to your comment on what Charlotte Scott would have thought had she caught a glimpse of our day, I wonder what things we consider atrocities in our current times that society will view as commonplace 150 years from now. It doesn't seem like there's too much more to accept, but who knows?
Also, in reference to your gay men with 6 dogs in the park comment, it sort of looks like the man is about to perform on Lincoln, dare I say it on your nice family blog, no, I won't, but it rhymes with schmellatio. This symbology could be discussed in reference to the Man and his oppressive nature.
A question...the guy who designed the park wanted the center of it to be the place from which all distances are measured. Is there such a place currently in the US? How do we measure the beginnings and endings of our distances?
That was the longest comment. EVER. I'm going to go thrift store shopping now.
Wow - That was much to ponder in just a comment section. Maybe this topic warrants another post.
Cindy - Believe it or not you have seen and even probably touched the spot marking the begining of mile "1" when you toured the Capital. It is a small white marble star located in the basement. We should see what Kristen has to say on the subject. She's smart. And she is a Capital tour guide so she has to memorize this stuff.
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