Frederick Douglass delivered Lincoln reality check at Emancipation Memorial

[My Name Is Kate]

Lincoln must have seemed almost like God to the freed slaves, and the Emancipation Memorial could be interpreted as suggesting that sentiment, with Lincoln towering over the kneeling slave, and his arm extended over him in a blessing-like gesture. But Lincoln was not God...not even close, and Lincoln alone did not free the slaves. Many lives were lost and families shattered in accomplishing that goal. Of course that would be more difficult to depict in a sculpture, and it was easier to use Lincoln alone as the symbol of emancipation. But having the text of the Thirteenth Amendment in the background, may have been a better substitute for Lincoln. (Not that it would make one iota of difference in appeasing the mob hellbent on tearing down statues.)