Brown University

Jerry Rescue Monument (Syracuse, New York)

Description

Abstract:
A concrete four-pointed star serves as the sculpture’s plinth. Three brick and concrete walls form a niche, which viewers are invited to physically occupy. Affixed to the brick walls, the niche contains bronze plaques explaining the history of William "Jerry" Henry’s rescue and the symbolism of the sculpture. Emerging from the central brick wall, on the side that faces outward, away from the architectural niche, are three life-size bronze figures. Rendered in high relief, the artist, BuMann, depicts an imagined scene of Henry’s rescue. A shirtless Henry, with broken shackles on his wrists, is helped to safety with the assistance of Rev. Samuel J. May and the Rev. Jermain W. Loguen (who was himself a formerly enslaved person), men who were not actually present during the escape.
Notes:
Jerry Rescue Monument (Syracuse, New York), Brown University Library
Digital object made available by: Brown University Library, Center for Digital Scholarship, Box A, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, U.S.A., (http://library.brown.edu/)

Access Conditions

Rights
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Restrictions on Use
Collection is open for research.

Citation

Ater, Renée, "Jerry Rescue Monument (Syracuse, New York)" (1990). Underground Railroad. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:e5vrtqjt/

Relations

Collection:

  • Underground Railroad

    The memorial and monuments in this collection are dedicated to the Underground Railroad, an organized network of routes and safe houses that assisted freedom seekers [enslaved people] on their journeys northward. The Underground Railroad was part of the larger movement …

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