2024-05-01T21:11:14-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150186076/statues-of-frederick-douglass-and-harriet-tubman-unveiled-in-maryland-capitol Sean Joyner 2020-02-24T11:04:00-05:00 >2024-03-15T01:45:58-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/b5/b5ce7d2f325d4683d45706483f3956e4.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>At a time when states are debating the removal of Confederate monuments, Maryland unveiled bronze statues of famed abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass during a ceremony Monday night in the Maryland State House. The life-sized statues were dedicated during a special joint session of the Maryland General Assembly in the Old House Chamber, the room where slavery was abolished in the state in 1864.</p></em><br /><br /><p>According to <em>ABC News,</em> the statues were dedicated during Black History Month and have been made to show Tubman and <a href="https://archinect.com/features/article/150143528/frederick-douglass-and-the-empowered-reader" target="_blank">Douglass</a> as they would have appeared in age and dress in 1864.</p> <figure><figure><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a2/a205f0bb315370cfdcefc031582565be.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a2/a205f0bb315370cfdcefc031582565be.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=514"></a><figcaption>Harriet Tubman. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines. Via marylandmatters.org</figcaption></figure></figure><p>"A mark of true greatness is shining light on a system of oppression and having the courage to change it," <em>ABC News</em> reports Adrienne Jones, the state's first black and first female House speaker saying in regards to the new installment. "The statues are a reminder that our laws aren&rsquo;t always right or just. But there&rsquo;s always room for improvement."</p>