“Marching to a Monument for Freedom” was commissioned in 1994 by the Harpers Ferry Historical Association and the West Virginia Branch of the NAACP, to accompany “The Call for Justice and the Struggle for Equality: Niagara and Beyond” on exhibit at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. This 2006 edition marks the centennial of the Niagara Movement meeting held at Harpers Ferry in August of 1906, the first to be held on American soil, and the meeting that became the cornerstone of the modern civil rights movement.
The painting portrays a procession of the delegates as they made their pilgrimage to John Brown’s Fort on the morning of Friday, August 17, 1906. Information from the painting came from a variety of sources including photographs of the fort taken in the late nineteenth century, an excellent group photograph of the men taken when they returned from the march, and a description of the morning’s ceremony taken from “Allies for Freedom” by Dr. Benjamin Quarles.
John Brown Day began with a sunrise pilgrimage to the Murphy Farm, the site of John Brown’s fort. A light rain fell as the Niagrites, numbering one hundred strong, walked the two miles to the farm. As they neared the small brick building, Owen Waller, a physician from Brooklyn, New York, bent down a respectfully removed his shoes and socks. Others followed his example before treading on this hallowed ground. Following prayers and stirring remarks by Richard T. Greener, former dean of Howard University Law School, the assemblage marched single-file around the fort singing The Battle Hymn of the republic and John Brown’s Body.
Richard Fitzhugh is and artist and illustrator who lives in Washington, D.C.
11" x 14" - Single matt - unframed
