Frederick Douglass Statue Unveiled at Hillsdale College

Posted on May 29, 2017

Hillsdale College has unveiled a statue of Frederick Douglass. The statue is the eighth figure on the College's Liberty Walk. The African-American abolitionist, author and orator delivered his famous address "Popular Error and Unpopular Truth" at Hillsdale over 150 years ago. His 7-foot-8-inch bronze statue now stands permanently on the campus.

The statue designed and created by San Francisco sculptor Bruce Wolfe depicts Douglas as a scholar. He has a book under his arm. The statue stands opposite the College's statue of Abraham Lincoln. Other statues include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Winston Churchill.

Dr. Lucas Morel, professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, addressed the crowd. More said, "Douglass looks with resolve at the soldier who paid the price. Lincoln looks at the soldier with solemnity, almost sadness, because, of course, he was the man that gave the command that led to the last full measure of devotion. Frederick Douglass came here to remind us what a college is. It's not just a proclamation of the evil of slavery. It's a proclamation on the nature of man—of all of us, of what we can do, of what we're made for."

Douglass became an advocate for freedom and justice after being born into slavery. He wrote several autobiographies, including the bestselling Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Douglas was also editor of The North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper. The Library of Congress has a Frederick Douglass resource with digital collections here.