Students Participate in the Mayor’s African American Historic Statue Advisory Committee

Two Friends Select students had the privilege to serve on former Mayor Jim Kenney’s African American Historic Statue Advisory Committee convened by the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (OACCE).

Vivien Johnson ’24 and Kate Gunther ’25 participated in the deliberative process to choose an artist who will create a permanent statue of Harriet Tubman to be placed outside of City Hall’s North Apron in 2025.
    
In early 2022, the City of Philadelphia marked Harriet Tubman’s 200th birthday with Harriet Tubman: The Journey to Freedom, a temporary statue by artist Wesley Wofford 
at City Hall. The statue garnered widespread attention, reaching millions through both social media and Philadelphia visitors. Many Friends Select classes, including 4th, 9th, and 10th graders, visited and studied the temporary statue as well. Months later, the artist was directly commissioned to create a permanent statue, sparking concerns about limited artist inclusion. To address the need to create a more inclusive narrative that accurately reflects the city’s diverse population in public art, the African American Historic Statue Advisory Committee was created.

To round out a committee composed of public art professionals, historians, educators, community representatives, family members of Harriet Tubman, and their own staff members, OACCE contacted Margaret Smith, Friends Select’s director of city curriculum, for students. “We had a number of students apply internally and I selected Vivien and Kate from the applicants based on their application statements and feedback from teachers,” Margaret said. “Their participation speaks to Friends Select’s commitment to our city, and also the school’s commitment to supporting students with these opportunities.”

Responding to community input, Mayor Kenney and the OACCE shifted direction and announced an open call for art in the fall of 2022 to commission a permanent Harriet Tubman statue at City Hall. “This statue project ignited many conversations, the most noticeable on the grounds of what the race of the proposed artist should be. Which artist and what statue would best represent and embody Harriet Tubman and her legacy?” explained Kate. “The initial criticism of using a white artist launched the campaign for a person of color to take on the project. Conversations such as this are very important.”     

The winning design for the permanent statue—A Higher Power: The Call of a Freedom Fighter by Alvin Pettit—depicts Harriet Tubman armed and preparing to confront her adversaries, a stark contrast to the temporary statue showing her leading children to freedom. “The statue chosen is not the art I personally wanted for the statue, because I view the presence of guns in the art to be culturally insensitive to the current gun violence issue in Philadelphia,” Vivien said. “Still, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to be a part of a statue that will be up indefinitely. Everyone who played a part in its creation was emotionally invested. In meetings with the committee and with the public, everyone who spoke did so with such intention and clarity as to make sure that their vision was shared. I found that very beautiful and meaningful.”

“I have learned many lessons through this experience, one of which is the power of community. It was very overwhelming and gratifying to see the sheer amount of feedback and contribution that went into making this tough decision for an artist,” Kate added. “I think it is vital to acknowledge that the Harriet Tubman statue is the first of a Black woman in Philadelphia. For a city that is so diverse and historically significant, this is a disturbing fact. I believe that in and of itself demonstrates the power of the city’s commitment to forward this statue.”