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Greenfield GroupSince 1927
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Park Square in Boston was a hub of Unitarian intellectual life after the Laymen;s League bought the property at 10 Park Square (Unity House) for their gatherings and the Greenfield Group of UU ministers began their meetings and discussions in the building once they outgrew meeting spaces at local congregations. In the middle of Park Square there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln and Archer Alexander, an emancipated slave. By July of 2008, the statue had created a controversy . . . . New York TImes, July 13, 2008: , STATUE STIRS CONTROVERSY: The statue depicting Abraham Lincoln and a freed slave in Boston's Park Square might be moved to an out-of-sight location because some blacks are said to be offended by it. Thomas Ball created the bronze statue, entitled ''Emancipation,'' in 1877. The Boston Art Commission is expected to rule next month on a new site. |
The satue, being in the middle of gay Boston for many years became a source of inspiration for many who frequented Park Square . . . "The statue was presented to the city in 1879 by P.T. Barnum associate Moses Kimball. 'The combination of the sentiments of the statue and the reputations of its donors resonated with citizens of Park Square,' notes T.J.., a former librarian who frequented the area's bars and baths in the 1950s and '60s. Swirling around the base of this monument to freedom, the Boston gays of that [pre-Stonewall] era experienced considerable encouragement." (Boston's Gay History, Jim D'Entremont, edited.)
Portland Oregonian, January 19, 1941,Fred M White: THere is an interesting write-up of the U.S. stamp made from the Lincoln Emancipation Monument in commemoration of the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery. The statue itself was paid for my former slaves! Further light on this monument had been shown in the letters of the Eliot Family appearing in the Boston Herald in 1937. Mr. White said:
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"One of the new postage stamps of the commemorative series now being issued by the United States postoffice department is of particular interest. The stamp, recently placed on sale throughout the country (1940), is a 3-center, violet in hue, depicting the "emancipation group" of the statue known as "Freedmen's Memorial," which stands in the capitol grounds in Washington. There is a duplicate in Park Square, Boston. The statue represents Abraham Lincoln in the act of emancipating a Negro slave, Archer Alexander, who kneels to receive the benediction while grasping his chain as if to break it. |
The figure of the kneeling stave is not a creature of the sculptor's imagination, but a portrait in bronze of a historic person, a fugitive stave named Archer Alexander, who was befriended by the late Dr. W. G. Eliot and prevented by him from being dragged back into bondage under the fugitive slave law. The Eliot who performed this service was a Unitarian minister. He was Dr. William Greenleaf Eliot of St. Louis, Mo., one of the founders and third chancellor of Washington University.
The facts of the life of Dr. Eliot of St Louis, including his rescue of Archer Alexander are available in a biography written by Charlotte C. Eliot, Dr. Eliot's daughter.in-law and published at Boston in 1904 by Houghton, Mifflin & Co."
Dr. Eliot told the story himself in one of his books, "The Story of Archer Alexander." (full text online)
More on the controversy surrounding the statue.
More information on the statue and its Unitarian connections can be found here:
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