Slave statue unveiled at black history celebration

BANGOR – Courage in the face of adversity and lessons from our nation’s history that remain relevant today were among the themes of the commemoration Wednesday night of local black history and Maine’s role in the anti-slavery movement.

The event at Eastern Maine Technical College, which drew about 160 people, helped launch Black History Month, observed nationally each February. It also served as a fund-raiser for the installation of a statue shown publicly for the first time Wednesday night. After the white drapery that covered it parted, the larger-than-life bronze likeness of a runaway slave drew a standing ovation.

“This is the crown of Chamberlain [Freedom] Park – this is what it’s all about,” said local historian Richard Campbell of Orrington after the applause subsided.

Called “North to Freedom,” the statue is meant to serve as a tribute to those who traveled to freedom on the Underground Railroad, to the abolitionist movement and to Maine’s role in the Underground Railroad, according to Campbell, co-chairman with Brian Higgins of Chamberlain Freedom Park. Higgins also is a founder of the Maine Underground Railroad Association, a subcommittee of the Brewer Historical Society.

Created by Houlton sculptors Glenn and Diane Hines, the statue depicts a runaway slave looking back toward the south and leaning to the north as he hoists himself out of an underground tunnel to freedom.

The honor of unveiling the statue went to Gov. Angus King, the keynote speaker; Gerald Talbot, who in the 1970s became the first black member of the Maine House of Representatives; John Jenkins, who in the 1990s became Lewiston’s first black mayor and the first black member of the Maine Senate; and Higgins, the Brewer historian who was a driving force behind the statue and the park in which it will be installed.

“This is an historic moment and it’s going to get even better,” Talbot said during one of several presentations on black history. He said that as children and adults visit the park and see the statue they see and read about black history, something few are doing today.

The governor, in his address, recalled the feelings he experienced as a witness to Martin Luther King Jr.’s history-making “I have a dream” speech in Washington and the prejudice he witnessed as a youth in 1950s Virginia. He told of the first two black children who came to his high school during the beginning stages of desegregation, how frightened they looked and how helpless everyone else felt about what to do or say.

A pivotal moment came when the captain of the football team made the first overture, offering to help find their classes. That set the tone for everyone else. It took courage, he said, like the courage the slaves had in escaping, knowing capture meant certain death, and the courage displayed by abolitionists who helped them.

“Art, to me, is something that strikes the emotions … and that’s what this does,” King said of the statue.

Jenkins, an independent candidate for governor, recognized those who made the Underground Railroad commemoration a reality. He observed that the terrors of slavery to the terrorism facing the world today.

“There’s a price we all must pay to be free,” he said, adding that he feels the price is worthwhile. “When one of us is in bondage, we all are.”

Though slavery has been abolished, change still needs to occur, noted James Varner, president of the Greater Bangor chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He said the statue would serve not only as a reminder of those who took a stand in the anti-slavery movement, but also of the prejudice that continues to this day. He cited the recent case of a black male hitchhiker who was savagely beaten by a trio of white men and then dragged from behind their pickup truck for two and a half miles.

“I’m not talking 300 years ago, I’m talking three years ago,” Varner said.

The statue will be set over a shaft at Chamberlain Freedom Park purportedly used by slaves en route to freedom in Canada. Campbell said supporters hope to have the statue installed by Memorial Day.

Though not documented, oral tradition passed down by generations of local residents has it that the Holyoke House in Brewer, once occupied by wealthy abolitionist John Holyoke and also known as the Christmas House, was a station of the Underground Railroad.

When the Holyoke House was torn down in 1995 to make room for the rebuilt Penobscot Bridge, a “slave-style shirt” was found tucked in the eaves of an attic room. In 1996, a stone-lined shaft was discovered where the root cellar of the home’s summer kitchen once stood. The Holyoke House is believed to be one of an estimated 130 possible Underground Railroad stations in Maine.

The park, developed at the former site of the house, includes a two-thirds scale version of Little Round Top and a bronze statue of Col. Joshua Chamberlain, the Brewer native who commanded the 20th Maine Regiment at the Gettysburg, Pa., battle that is often credited with turning the tide during the Civil War. Chamberlain grew up next door to the Holyokes and attended the same Brewer church.

Others who participated in the evening’s program included state Attorney General G. Steven Rowe; Brewer Fire Chief Richard Bronson, representing the city of Brewer; and Bangor City Councilor Annie Allen, representing the city of Bangor. U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, U.S. Sens Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who were unable to attend, sent written congratulations.