Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial Statue Arrives

The Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial statue arrived in South Old Town Thursday as work continues to complete a tribute to a burial ground for escaped slaves.

Mario Chiodo’s sculpture was approved by City Council in fall 2012 following a selection process that included a project panel and a vote by the city’s public art committee.

“It’s absolutely breathtaking,” said Pat Miller, a former member of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts. “I know [Chiodo] will be coming to Alexandria in September or October when we hold a dedication. I will show him off all over the place. I am so pleased with this.”

The 18-foot sculpture arrived on a truck Thursday. A crane hoisted it into place.

According to the Oakland, Calif.-based artist’s website:

“[The] passionate, spiraling depiction includes figurative representations of Oppression, Struggle, Sacrifice, Loss, Compassion, and Hope—the highest figure—holding the un-bloomed ‘rose of freedom’ as he stands on his tiptoes to avoid the thorns of oppression beneath him.”

Along with the South Washington Streetscape Project and other improvements secured as part of VDOT’s Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial will anchor a southern gateway into the city from the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

The federally funded project honors a cemetery for about 1,800 blacks who fled to Alexandria to escape slavery during the Civil War. At the time, Alexandria was a safe haven because of its occupation by the Union army.

While some found jobs in the city, other contrabands struggled or arrived in poor health. Disease swept through barracks where many lived and hundreds died.

In 1864, a property on the southern edge of Alexandria was confiscated from a family with Confederate sympathies for use as a cemetery.

The last burials took place in 1869.

The cemetery later fell into disrepair. By the 1950s, a gas station was constructed at the cemetery site.

Historical research and plans to rebuild the Wilson Bridge brought new attention to the site in recent decades. The Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery formed to advocate for the site’s preservation and construction of a memorial. Archaeologists later identified the location of graves, which will be reflected in the design of the memorial park.

Last month, the city unveiled its new Alexandria African American Hall of Fame at Charles Houston Recreation Center.