Boston Art Commission votes 8-0 to remove Emancipation Memorial

BOSTON — The Boston Art Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday night to remove the Emancipation Memorial in Park Square.

The motion called for bringing in an art conservator “to document, recommend how the bronze statue is removed, supervise its removal and placement into temporary storage.”

It also includes commissioning detailed documentation of the memorial into Commission archives, WFXT reported.

The statue at Park Square is a copy of the original Emancipation Memorial at Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C. That statue was designed by Charlestown, Massachusetts native Thomas Ball and dedicated in 1876.

The bronze statue was designed to memorialize the emancipation of slaves after the Civil War. It shows President Abraham Lincoln standing and holding a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation with one hand, while holding his other hand over a freed African American slave, who is shirtless, wearing broken shackles and kneeling at the president’s feet.

Calls to remove the Emancipation Memorial statues have intensified in recent weeks as the nation confronts racial injustice.

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