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On his adopted birthday, freedom fighter Frederick Douglass was honored in the Massachusetts Senate Wednesday by becoming the first person to have their bust installed in the Senate in almost 150 years. Douglass chose Massachusetts as his destination when he escaped slavery in 1838, and spoke in the Senate chamber as he advanced the causes of abolition and women's suffrage.
Craig Sandler
The Senate unveiled a bust of Frederick Douglass in the chamber Wednesday, coinciding with the birthday of the abolitionist, orator and newspaper publisher who had deep ties to Massachusetts.
The bust, a replica of a piece originally created by Massachusetts sculptor Lloyd Lillie, is the first to be added to the Senate chamber since 1898. It's also the first state-commissioned bust of a Black person in the State House, Senate President Karen Spilka's office said.
"Today, Frederick Douglass takes his long overdue place among our nation's founding fathers in the Senate Chamber, where he will inspire generations of Massachusetts lawmakers to lead as he did, with truth, justice, liberty, and humanity," Spilka said in a statement. "Representation is powerful. Anyone should be able to walk into our Senate chamber and see themselves contributing to our dialogue as a Commonwealth, and with this historic unveiling we take an important step toward listening to, and lifting up, more voices in our Commonwealth."
The new bust is situated near a Douglass quote painted on a chamber wall that states, "Truth, justice, liberty, and humanity will ultimately prevail."
Douglass's great-great-great grandson said his family was "incredibly humbled" by the artwork.
"From New Bedford to Nantucket to Lynn, and many cities and towns in between, Massachusetts is where Frederick Douglass found freedom, raised his young family, and began to realize the power of his story and his voice," Kenneth Morris Jr., president of Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, said in a statement. "It's also where Douglass found support from many fellow freedom fighters, and where he recruited his sons Charles Remond Douglass and Lewis Henry Douglass to serve in the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. We hope this bust, displayed in the Senate chamber together with Douglass's words, will inspire all who are united in the quest for social justice, liberty and equality."
