Nina Cooke John's Harriet Tubman monument debuts in Newark

2023-03-09T12:08:00-05:00

This morning, Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark will preside at the unveiling of a massive monument to the abolitionist hero Harriet Tubman. “Shadow of a Face” has been installed in a park where a statue of Christopher Columbus stood until it was removed in 2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. Last year Baraka led a ceremony that changed the name of the park — which had been Washington Park since the 1790s — to Harriet Tubman Square.

Tubman, who may yet grace all $20 bills minted after 2030, made stops at the still-existing Old First Presbyterian Church on Broad Street while aiding escaped slaves on their journey through Newark. Baraka said the new monument would “make her experience real for all of us.” Its existence itself is a mild triumph considering the state’s previous rejection of Nina Cooke John’s proposal in June of last year.

The decision was eventually overruled to make way for the nearly 25-foot-tall monument. Speaking to the Times about her desire to keep a lasting vestige of its predecessor, Cooke John said “I’d love it in 10 years for someone to say, ‘What’s that?’ It needs to be part of the story of why the people of Newark decided it was important for it to come down and to have a monument to Harriet Tubman in what had been Washington Park.”

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Nina Cooke John's Harriet Tubman monument debuts in Newark