Emancipation Memorial

This bronze statue in Lincoln Park east of the Capitol depicts President Abraham Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation above a rising freed man. Unveiled in 1876, it was funded largely by donations from formerly enslaved people, and Frederick Douglass spoke at its dedication. The monument's imagery has long drawn debate over how it portrays emancipation and Black agency. At the opposite end of the same park stands a statue of educator Mary McLeod Bethune, the first memorial in the city honoring a Black woman.