View Douglass, Tubman Statues At Maryland State House

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Two historic Marylanders will be celebrated Saturday when the State Archives hosts a day of free public events to celebrate the recently installed statues of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

On Monday, Gov. Larry Hogan joined Speaker of the House Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson to unveil the statues. The community was able to visit the new statues of iconic Marylanders Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman Tuesday in the Old House of Delegates Chamber of the Maryland State House.

“As we commemorate Black History Month, it is my immense honor to dedicate these two statues and to ensure that the lives and legacies of two of Maryland’s most important and most influential leaders—Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass—are permanently and formally enshrined in the history of our great state,” said Hogan in a statement. “It is my hope that when we view these wonderful statues of these incredible heroes and reflect on the countless contributions of these remarkable leaders, it will remind each of us to always stand on the side of goodness and love, and on the side of unity and justice.”

Douglass and Tubman were born into slavery in the 19th century on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. A tribute to both Douglass and Tubman has been a topic of conversation among the state’s leaders since the completion of the Old Senate Chamber in 2016. Since that time, Maryland citizens have consistently expressed a desire to add these abolitionists to the public experience of the nation’s oldest working state house.

The sculptures, cast in bronze, weigh approximately 400 - 500 pounds each. The Archives curatorial team required a design of the sculptures that would be consistent with the statue of George Washington which resides in the old Senate Chamber. State Archives staff was responsible for the interpretation of each figure, including establishing the relative age of each figure during the relevant period of interpretation. They worked with StudioEIS of Brooklyn, New York, to determine the figures’ stances, facial expressions, clothing and other factors to serve as a guide for the figures’ development. State Archives also developed the interpretive exhibits in the Old House of Delegates Chamber, which will now include information about Douglass and Tubman and the new statues.

"The inclusion of these two Marylanders, born as slaves and who self-emancipated, inside the room where slavery was finally abolished in Maryland on Nov. 1, 1864, will greatly enhance the visitor experience in the State House,” said Elaine Rice Bachmann, deputy state archivist and secretary of the State House Trust.