In a city that has countless statues and memorials honoring presidents, it’s hard to compete with the one that sits overlooking the National Mall.
The statue of President Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial may be 30 feet tall and weigh 170 tons, but he is just sitting and looks to be thinking.
The newest presidential statue in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood is unlike most depictions of Lincoln in marble or on canvas, because he is actually doing something.
Installed in front of the African American Civil War Museum on Friday is a statue depicting the 16th president signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Stanley Watts, the artist behind the statue, said sculpting the 6-feet tall, 600-pound statue was so meaningful.
“It’s in the top three, if not the most significant,” Watts said of the proclamation. “Only because it was the most important thing Abraham did.”
Watts said the sculpting process started in 2019. The statue, paid for by both donations and D.C.’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities, was to be placed at the museum earlier but was delayed due to the pandemic.
The African American Civil War Museum has been closed for renovations and will be reopening this November on Veterans Day.
Frank Smith, the founding director of the African American Civil War Museum, said they decided to wait until closer to the grand reopening for the statue’s official unveiling ceremony, which happens to be a very special anniversary.
“Sept. 22 is the day that Lincoln actually issued the Emancipation Proclamation,” Smith said. “We’ll invite the whole community to come and celebrate the fact that we have a new historic element on historic U Street, Vermont Avenue.”
Smith added that in these troubling times, it’s important for people to remember all the good things that happen in the U.S.
“We ought to celebrate our own freedom every now and then, here in the United States. And so this is a celebration of freedom for us,” Smith said.
