Wilmington, N.C. unveiled its new sculpture group dedicated to the members of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) who helped liberate the city in 1865. The sculpture group consists of eleven individualized statues of members of the USCT based on casts from descendants of the Black soldiers, modern USCT reenactors, and others connected to the project. Entitled “Boundless.”
According to a report on the local NBC affiliate:
[Sculptor] Stephen Hayes, hopes that his work brings both light and awareness to the community of its rich history.
“A sense of pride, a sense of honor, just an understanding of their history,” said Hayes. “Bring these histories forward so they can talk about it, because there’s a certain type of healing that needs to be done for everything that has happened throughout Wilmington.”
Terry L. Perkins, whose great-grandfather was a U.S. Colored Troop, is one of the faces molded onto the sculpture. He wanted to partake in this special part of history after finding out his family’s history.
“We have a very proud history, and as we go back through it, we found our family has a lot of veterans, so this is a great, great honor,” said Perkins.
The sculpture is open to the public all weekend, and will be housed at Cameron Art Museum.
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This work is outstanding. It’s a Beautiful example of what should be done in all communities with similar history❣️ Thank you Patrick 🤗🤗🤗😘
Thanks for reading.
Outstanding article. Hope to visit this construction in the near future.
Patrick u are an amazing man. Please continue to let God use u. I wish it was a way u could help our younger generation to see how far our ancestors has bought us though our lord and savior Jesus Christ. Do u think taking our youths back in history visiting our prisons would help them. It use to
help our black young men to avoid going to prison. Please run it by someone u know my is Marjorie Perry thank you so much