Frederick Douglass stands at the top of a stair leading into the New-York Historical Society. The statue was installed in 2011 just as the United States was starting to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. The entity behind the statue is StudioEIS located in DUMBO in Brooklyn, just a dozen miles away. StudioEIS has created dozens of historically correct statues that have been installed around the county. At another entrance to the Society is one of Lincoln.
StudioEIS has made many statues for museums and historic sites. I have photographed some of their work, like Lincoln at the Lincoln Cottage in Washington. At National Harbor in Maryland I photographed statues designed by Ivan Schwartz of StudioEIS of Lincoln and Douglass. These are highly accurate depictions of their subjects.
After you see the statue, you should go into the lobby of the Historical Society to see an exhibit on Frederick Douglass. This focuses on Douglass’s famous speech “Our Composite Nation” in which Douglass claims that the United States is not Anglo-Saxon, but is a new kind of nation built up of people from all different backgrounds. According to Douglass the United States is “a composite, perfect illustration of the unity of the human family.” This is a special exhibit.
The sculpture was also created by StudioEIS. This was installed in 2021.
You do not have to pay to see this lobby exhibit. After seeing it, though you may want to pay to see what else is behind the pay wall. The museum has a priceless collection of paintings and historic artifacts that will fascinate any student of history, including pieces from the Civil War Era.
The exhibit depicts Douglass on a speaking tour in 1870 discussing the diverse nature of the American people. While the United States had for eighty years depicted itself as an offshoot of England, Even at its founding many states were more than a third African American, and the white population included many people who traced their ancestry back to Scotland, Wales, France, Spain, and other places in Europe, as well as to Native America. With the annexation of parts of Mexico, many Latinos became American citizens and after the failed revolutions in Europe in 1848, Irish, Germans, Poles, and Italians immigrated in large numbers. By 1849, Chinese immigration had begun to the West Coast followed by other Asian immigrants. By 1870, Scandinavian and Russian immigration had already started. And, after the Civil War, almost anyone born in the United States was a U.S. citizen.
The display shows an ad for Douglass’s speech in Schenectady, New York where he spoke in January 1870 on “Our Composite Nation.” The statue is of Douglass in his early fifties, arriving by train to give his speech.
The text explains why Douglass was in such demand during Reconstruction. When you read Douglass’s speeches you realize that he was talking about an America that was still forming, that a lot of Americans did not want to see come about. But others saw the promise of his “composite nation.”
Of course, as Douglass was travelling, there were many hotels, restaurants, and train cars that were segregated. The display shows Douglass and his allies challenging the exclusion of non-whites from accommodations.
While we often hear of the “failure of Reconstruction,” by 1870 slavery was ended, people could be citizens no matter what their color was, and people could not be excluded from voting because they were Black. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are still in our Constitution 150 years after they were passed. Many people at that time agreed with Douglass that “absolute equality” was necessary.
Others wanted to remove gender as a bar on equality.
Many voted even though their lives were put in danger by their votes.
While many Americans wanted equality, there was also disciplined white resistance to equality. Reconstruction did not fail, it was violently overthrown.
On the West Coast, many working class people arrayed against Chinese immigration and they found themselves in the same struggle for white supremacy as Southern planters who had made up the ruling class of the Confederacy. Douglass opposed attempts exclude Chinese, losing some supporters.
As America was becoming racially diverse, religious diversity was seen as an equal threat by some.
The exhibit ends with Douglass looking towards the future with hope.
As Douglass said in 1870, a lot of Americans think our best days are in the past. Don’t we always hear the same sentiment today?
The exhibit concludes with a small sculpture of Douglass in Ireland, a young and impassioned abolitionist speaking out against injustice.
The New York Historical Society is at 170 Central Park W, New York, NY 10024 between 76th St and 77th. Frederick Douglass’s statue is at the 77th Street entrance. There is no parking nearby. You should come by Subway or take a cab or Uber. You do not have to pay to visit the statue or to see the lobby exhibit on Douglass, but if you want to go inside the Society, here is the admission policy.
