Frederick Douglass at the Rochester, NY Airport
This bronze began as the "Re-Energizing the Legacy of Frederick Douglass" Project in 2018 that was initiated by the not-for-profit Rochester Community Television Media Center. To learn more about that project, please see the Bicentennial Frederick Douglass Project in the Monuments and Figures categories of this portfolio. RCTV Media Center hired Olivia to make the bronze and gifted it to Monroe County, NY for the renamed Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport in Rochester, NY.
The statue was funded by private sponsors, New York State, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. It received the NEA and NEH federal grants as a direct result of the "Rebuilding and Building Monuments of American Heroes" executive order. It also received an NEA Chairman's Extraordinary Action Award. Thank you to everyone for supporting Freedom Monuments in America!
Currently funds are being raised by RCTV Media Center to make the "Building Strong Children" project that will add more statues to go with the airport bronze. Statues of wife Anna Murray Douglass, living Douglass descendants Ken Morris Jr. and Nettie Washington Douglass and three children will be added to convey how the Douglass Family has been continuing Douglass' Legacy to end slavery through education. To learn more, please visit: https://www.RCTVMediaCenter.org/FrederickDouglass