Lincoln statue
As a black American, I’m not surprised that many don’t actually look into real history. The funds for this statue were raised by freed slaves. Frederick Douglas gave the ribbon cutting speech. The freed slave depicted is not on his knees, but in the act of rising up from them. Now, in hindsight, placing the black man lower than Lincoln in the visual plane may be viewed by many as a subjugating image...but that is not the case here. If this were a movie reel instead of one frame, we may very well watch this man rise up - we may even see the two embrace as equals. But, no. We take one still frame...out of context.
