Located in the heart of Newark, a remarkable monument celebrates Harriet Tubman and the Newark Black Liberation Movement. In June 2020, following the protests that took place after the murder of George Floyd, the city of Newark decided proactively to remove Christopher Columbus’ statue and, as Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka said, “erect a monument that spurs us into our future story of exemplary strength and solidity.” The monument committee chose the design of the multidisciplinary designer and the founder of Studio Cooke John Architecture and Design, Nina Cooke John, named it “Shadow of a Face,” based on Robert Hayden’s 1962 poem “Runagate Runagate,” which references Tubman, and dedicated it on March 9th, 2023, (a day before the annual Harriet Tubman Day) in the Harriet Tubman Square. The 25-foot-tall monument consists of a large open circle that presents on one wall a mosaic of tiles created by Newark residents; the other wall showcases key milestones of Tubman’s life and the Underground Railroad in Newark. On the other side of the tile wall is a large-scale portrait of Tubman, placed at the visitor’s eye level. The singer, actor, and Newark native Queen Latifah narrates the audio installation. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery between 1815 and 1825 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In 1849, she escaped to Pennsylvania and became free. Soon after, Tubman risked her freedom and returned 19 more times to Maryland as a conductor of the Underground Railroad to free tens of people, including her family. To finance the rescue expeditions and to financially support the former slaves on their first days as free people, she worked as a domestic and cook. In the early 1850s, Tubman worked during the summers in Cape May, New Jersey. During the civil war, she served in the Union Army as a cook, nurse, spy, and scout, leading an armed expedition that freed hundreds of enslaved people. After the war, she retired to her home in Auburn, New York, advocated for women’s suffrage, and co-established a home for elderly people, where she spent the last years before she died in 1913. The monument is the second tribute to the brave activist in New Jersey. The first took place in 2020 with the opening of the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May. The memorial stands near the Newark Museum of Art, and a statue of Rosa Parks is a mile away. Mary McLeod Bethune, an educator and civil rights leader, is honored with a statue in the nearby Jersey City. Read more...

Rosa Parks memorial stands in the heart of the Essex Government Complex in Newark, New Jersey. It is the first and only statue of Parks in New Jersey, and she is the only woman honored with a statue in this Complex. Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was a civil rights activist who got famous when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man on December 1st, 1955. Her act sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, one of the founding events in US history against racial segregation in transportation. Parks devoted her life to fighting for the cause of equal rights. The statue was unveiled on October 1st, 2014, and was created by the Oregon artist, Thomas Jay Warren. The statue depicts Parks sitting on a bus seat, smiling, holding her purse. Her quote is inscribed on the seat next to her- “You must never be fearful of what you are doing when it is right.” More statues of Parks stand in – the US Capitol, Washington, DC, Montgomery, Alabama, Dallas, TX, and more. Read more...

The larger-than-life statue of Althea Gibson (1927-2003) stands in the Althea Gibson Tennis Center in Branch Brook Park, Newark, New Jersey, since March 28th, 2012, in the same tennis courts the elite tennis player taught after she retired from professional tennis. It was created by Thomas Jay Warren. Gibson was the first American tennis and golf player who broke the race barrier in professional sports and won the most prestigious titles while making several Firsts on the way. Gibson was born on a farm in rural South Carolina, and at the age of 3, the family moved to Harlem, NY. There, she started playing paddle tennis, and by 12, she won the New York City women’s paddle tennis championship. She joined a tennis club, and although tennis was not her passion from the beginning, she realized she has a gift. She won national ATA girls and then women’s titles several times, and with the help of people who believed in her talent, she started to practice professionally, competing in the National Championships, sometimes as the first black athlete. In 1956, Gibson won her Grand Slam tournament, the first African-American athlete to win the title. Overall, she won 5 Grand Slam titles and 51 national and international titles. In 1958, Gibson retired due to financial struggles, since in the old days, being a professional tennis player was not a profitable profession. She played professional golf for several years and directed the recreation department in New Jersey. Another statue of Althea Gibson stands in Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. The statue and tennis courts stand at beautiful Essex County Branch Brook Park, do not miss a stroll in its trails. Read more...