“Gateway to Freedom” Yesterday was 313 day, an official/unofficial Detroit holiday (I always put it on the Detroit calendars I design and sell), but I didn’t get this posted, so here it is a day later. 😎 Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad: Dedicated in 2001, designed by Edward Dwight. Commemorates Detroit’s role in the Underground RR and tells the story of 6 fugitive slaves ready to board a boat to Canada and freedom. The gentleman who is pointing represents George de Baptist, a Detroiter who helped slaves to freedom. The plaque refers to institutions in Detroit that were one part of the URR and are still serving the population of Detroit. It has a companion monument near Caesars that features a former slave raising his arms in celebration of emancipation along with a mother and two children, who are being offered assistance from a Quaker woman while one of the children look back across to Detroit. MI had numerous terminals for the URR and Detroit, whose code name was “Midnight” was one of the largest. MI was a destination for freedom seekers in the beginning and had a good-sized population of former slaves in the 30’s. Slavery was abolished in Canada in 1834, and with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1950, Canada became a better refuge. PHOTO: @picturedetroit | Christina Collie SHOT: 9.10.2011 • • • • • #PictureDetroit #Detroit #VisitDetroit #Windsor #WindsorCanada #DetroitRiver #HartPlaza #313Day (late) #BlackHistory (a month later) #MaybeThisShouldBeA #LaterGram #DetroitHistory #Community #CommunityFirst (at Philip A. Hart Plaza) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9tlm6Xlezt/?igshid=1a7jmkp7bu6re
