The Freedman

John Quincy Adams Ward

1863, cast 1891 · Bronze · The American Wing

Ward’s depiction of an African American man was inspired by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued on September 22, 1862. The broken manacles on the man’s left wrist and in his right hand offer a succinct commentary on the chief political and moral topic of the era, and proclaim the sculptor’s abolitionist sentiments. While emancipated and contemplating his future, the Black male is represented seated and seminude, reinforcing his transitional status between enslavement and full standing in citizenship and manhood.

Artist

John Quincy Adams Ward

Date

1863, cast 1891

Medium

Bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Charles Anthony Lamb and Barea Lamb Seeley, in memory of their grandfather, Charles Rollinson Lamb, 1979