SCHUMER PLAN TO DELIVER STATUE OF AMERICAN HERO AND ROCHESTER RESIDENT, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, TO U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING SIGNED INTO LAW BY PRESIDENT
After Five Year Wait, President Signs Historic Bill That Places D.C.'s Douglass Statue in the U.S. Capitol
Schumer's Successful Plan Will Add to the Mere Two Statues of African Americans, Out of More Than 180 Sculptures in the Capitol; Schumer Introduced Original Bill to Break Five-Year Legislative Logjam
Schumer: After Long Struggle, This Law Honors Rochester Hero With the Placement He Deserves at the Center of our Democracy
Yesterday, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that his plan to allow a statue of American hero and Rochester resident, Frederick Douglass, to reside permanently in the U.S. Capitol has been signed into law by President Obama. In June, Schumer introduced a measure that would direct the Joint Committee on the Library to finally accept a statue of abolitionist hero Frederick Douglass for prominent display in the U.S. Capitol Building. Schumer's legislation successfully cut through bureaucratic red tape that back-benched the statue of Douglass, completed by sculptor Steven Weitzman in 2007, in a D.C. government building blocks away from the Capitol. Two months later on August 2, the House introduced its version of Schumer's legislation, which passed both houses of Congress and recently became law.
"After a five-year struggle through Congress, my plan to honor Frederick Douglass points to progress for Rochester's American hero," said Schumer. "The statue of Frederick Douglass has been back-benched for far too long. After five long years of legislative red tape, President Obama's signature will finally allow the statue of Frederick Douglass to arrive at the U.S. Capitol. Without the president's signature, we would not be able to immortalize a Rochester civil rights hero in the building that houses the democracy for which Douglass fought his entire life. I am grateful that Congress and President Obama finally got this done, so that the statue of one of the greatest heroes in the history of our nation, and a proud resident of Rochester, no longer sits in a D.C. city government building less than a mile from the U.S. Capitol.
"The base of the statue bears an inscription with the words Frederick Douglass famously said in Canandaigua, NY, 155 years ago: 'If there is no struggle, there is no progress.' After a long struggle to get Congress to agree to bring Frederick Douglass into the Capitol, the millions of tourists who come from Rochester and across the country can no longer wait to see this statue in the place where it belongs," Schumer continued.
Schumer's proposal highlighted that Frederick Douglass was a leading voice for women's rights and the emancipation of slaves in upstate New York and that his message of equality resonated throughout the country. Currently, only two out of more than 180 statues and busts of prominent American figures on display in the Capitol portray African Americans. Schumer's plan pushed Congress to finally take action and accept this statue of Douglass to the Capitol. The statue depicts a standing Douglass on a pedestal engraved with a quote from a speech he delivered in Canandaigua, NY in 1857 that reads: "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
The legislation that both houses of Congress passed and President Obama recently signed directs the Joint Committee on the Library to accept Weitzman's statue of Douglass for placement in Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol and details Douglass's accomplishments as a national civil rights leader including his many years in Rochester, NY. Schumer is Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library, which oversees artwork and statuary in the Capitol. Once the President signs it, Schumer said he would work to expedite transfer of the statue.
Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Maryland in 1818, Douglass escaped from slavery at age 20 and lived in Massachusetts, Ireland, and Great Britain before he settled for 25 years in Rochester. While in Rochester, Douglass published and edited "The North Star," the most prominent African-American newspaper in the country. This groundbreaking periodical, in addition to his speeches and the acclaim of his bestselling autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," contributed to the adoption of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, also known as the Reconstruction Amendments, which marked major victories for civil rights in America between 1865 and 1870.
Schumer also noted in his original bill that Douglass not only delivered eloquent and timely speeches during his 25 years in upstate New York, but he also converted his words into action. Douglass was a leader in the Underground Railroad in Rochester and western New York, important hubs for escaped slaves due to their proximity to Canada. During the Seneca Falls Convention, a historic gathering near Geneva, NY to promote women's rights in 1848, Douglass participated as the only African American and one of only 37 men out of 300 attendees. Douglass's presence at the convention in Seneca Falls displayed his belief that the women's rights movement and that of emancipation went hand-in-hand.
Frederick Douglass lived in Rochester from 1847 until 1872. He purchased his first home in Rochester at 4 Alexander Street near the corner of East Avenue in April of 1848. He once wrote to a friend about Rochester: "I shall always feel more at home there than anywhere else in the country." Douglass returned to D.C. in 1872 after a fire engulfed his Rochester home. He died in Washington, D.C., and was buried at Rochester's Mount Hope Cemetery in 1895.
The two African-Americans currently depicted in the U.S. Capitol include Sojourner Truth in Emancipation Hall and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Rotunda. Congress has also authorized the creation of a statue of African-American civil rights heroine Rosa Parks, and it is expected to be added to the collection in the Capitol later this year.