Frederick Douglass statue delayed until 2017

Home Campus Frederick Douglass statue delayed until 2017
Frederick Douglass statue delayed until 2017
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Hillsdale College is commissioning a statue of orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass as the next addition to the Liberty Walk. Wikimedia Commons | Collegian

Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk will have to wait longer than expected to receive its newest addition — abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass.
A college committee selected award-winning sculptor Bruce Wolfe for the project in May 2015. Wolfe was not able to begin work as soon as expected, but he plans to start sculpting soon. Although Chief Staff Officer Mike Harner said Wolfe projects the sculpture will be completed by December, weather will delay the dedication until fall 2017.
“It’s going to be very neat. There’s a lot of excitement about it,” Harner said. “I think Bruce Wolfe views this as a major work of a distinguished career.”
The sculpture’s concept design depicts a younger Douglass at about the height of his oratory powers when he was 43, the age he would have been two years before speaking at Hillsdale College for the first time on Jan. 21, 1863.
“We’re very proud of the college’s affiliation with the great Frederick Douglass,” President Larry Arnn said in an email. “He and the principles he stated in that speech helped to form the devotion of the college to freedom and equality.”
Wolfe and the college considered a number of poses for the statue, including one reminiscent of the photo taken during his trip to Hillsdale, which depicts Douglass sitting. They, however, decided that he would stand across from his old friend, Abraham Lincoln, at the 4 o’clock position when looking at Central Hall from the Civil War memorial.
Wolfe’s concept also depicts the 19th-century orator holding a book, an ode to his influential writings.
Harner said he will not release any early sketches of the statue to the public because the design could change once Wolfe begins sculpting, and he wants the unveiling to be a surprise.
In conjunction with the statue, Hillsdale is also commemorating the abolitionist’s life with the Frederick Douglass Scholarships. The college is designing this full-tuition grant specifically for high-achieving, high-need students from inner cities, especially Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois, Financial Aid Director Rich Moeggenberg said.
The criteria corresponds with Douglass’ history, Arnn said.
“Frederick Douglass was himself high-need and high -achieving,” Arnn said. “We want a student body made up of the best who are willing and able without regards, as the Articles of Association say, to ‘race, sex, and national origin.’ This is a way to pursue that.”
After years of raising funds, the college selected its first recipient for the 2016-2017 academic year.
In order to pick a recipient, Senior Director of Admissions Zack Miller said Hillsdale received a list of students from standardized tests, like the ACT, identifying students with great financial need.
“We want folks to know Hillsdale is affordable and a great value,” Miller said. “Sometimes there’s a stigma with private schools, that they’re too expensive out of the gate. That’s not the case…We want to dispel that myth. If you are a good fit for Hillsdale, we want to at least open the door for them to learn more about us.”
The Liberty Walk began in 2002 with the George Washington statue. Since then, the college always planned to include a Douglass statue, which was announced in 2013. His statue, to be erected near Lincoln and the memorial commemorating Hillsdale students who fought in the Civil War, will complete that section of the walk.