Organizers of a $500,000 project to build a monument to African American achievements on the state Capitol grounds presented Harrisburg officials with a bronze map replica of the Old 8th Ward Friday.
The ceremony helped kick off Juneteenth celebrations in the city on the state holiday Friday. Gov. Wolf declared June 19 as a state holiday starting last year to honor the day that African Americans in Texas learned of emancipation.
The largely African-American 8th Ward was razed starting in 1897 to make way for the current expanded Capitol grounds.
No artifacts were saved as about 1,100 homes were torn down, but the monument will serve as a way to preserve the history of the ground that the Capitol complex rests upon, said Lenwood Sloan, executive director of the project.
The pillar-shaped monument will bear 100 names of members of that once-vibrant community and will be topped with a relief map of the Old 8th, which once bustled in the shadow of Pennsylvania’s original Capitol building.
Statues of four prominent residents of the Old 8th, starting with poet, abolitionist and women’s rights activist Frances Harper and educator William Howard Day, will flank the monument.
Five additional copies of the relief map were created to give to sponsors of the project, including the replica presented to Harrisburg officials Friday at a 2 p.m. news conference.
Other bronze maps previously were presented to: Peggy Grove, an early and important benefactor for the project, Gov. Wolf, and Dauphin County Commissioners. The fifth framed map remains available for a supporter who can help the project reach its final fundraising goal. Sloan said. As it stands, the project still needs to raise just over $51,000.
“We’re almost there,” said Kelly Summerford, treasurer for the project. “We are in the fourth quarter, on the fourth down, with just inches to go.” People interested in supporting the project can go to monumentpaus.com to donate.
Three sections of the monument will be unveiled Aug. 26, with the final completed monument revealed in November.
The monument will be one of few across the country on Capitol grounds highlighting the hard work and accomplishments of African Americans, Sloan said.
Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse said while Confederate monuments are being torn down and toppled across the country, he was proud that the capital city is creating a monument.
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