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Iconic civil rights and abolitionist Harriet Tubman is being honored in front of Philadelphia’s City Hall this year – and you can have a say in the quoted inscription that goes at the base of her statue.
A temporary sculpture of Harriet Tubman initially popped up in front of City Hall in 2022 as part of a traveling exhibit. It was so well received that the city commissioned the original sculptor, Wesley Wofford, to create a permanent statue.
This was met with lots of controversy. Many residents said there was a lack of transparency and that the closed-door commission process was unfair.
Black artists and historians also expressed concerns that the call to artists was not open enough. Wofford is a white man, and although Black artists said they did not doubt Wofford’s ability to depict Tubman, they emphasized there should’ve been an opportunity for more artists to weigh in and offer their designs.
Following this, the city issued an open call for artists and went through several rounds of semi finals, ultimately choosing New York/New Jersey-based artist Alvin Pettit.
The new statue design depicts Tubman preparing to face her opposition, with Petit saying she is captured in a moment that shows her “as a conqueror.”
Creative Philadelphia is now calling on Philadelphians to vote for an inspirational quote that will be permanently inscribed at the base of the sculpture.
The options were narrowed down from Philadelphians’ suggestions of quotes that answered the question: “What does it mean to walk in Harriet Tubman’s footsteps today?”
Out of 160 submissions, six finalists were chosen. And now you can vote on which one resonates with you. Here are the options:
- “Choose courage over conformity; freedom over fear; liberation over limitation.”
- “May courage, even in the face of oppression, always be our North Star.”
- “When freedom was only a whisper, she became its voice.”
- “Carry your light into the dark, for on the other side of fear is freedom.”
- “She did not consider herself a hero, she just did what she knew was right.”
- “She knew the way forward was going back.”
You can vote for your favorite in Creative Philadelphia’s public survey online. The winning quote will be revealed in May.
