DECOLONIZING MONUMENT-MAKING IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: The Harriet Tubman Memorial

In 2023, the City of Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, unveiled Shadow of a Face, an impressive new monument dedicated to Harriet Tubman and the city’s history of liberation in a city-owned park (Figures 12.1-12.4). Shadow of a Face takes its name from Robert Hayden’s 1962 poem “Runagate Runagate” (1985: 61) about Harriet Tubman: “Shadow of a face in the scary leaves, shadow of a voice in the talking leaves: Come ride-a my train.” The city park’s location, originally used by the Munsee-speaking Tappan and Hackensack Native American tribes and others before them prior to European colonization, became a commons European colonizers established in Newark in 1669. The commons or green, known as the Upper Common or Market Place, was originally intended for general public use, commerce, animal grazing land, and community needs. In the 1830s, the space was renamed Washington Park in honor of George Washington. By the mid-nineteenth century, it became a promenade locale for nearby residents and a place for commemorative monument dedication beginning in 1890. In 2022, the park was renamed Harriet Tubman Square in honor of the heroine and her courageous efforts in combating enslavement and fighting for the rights of women and the disenfranchised in the United States. The tribute to Tubman also recognizes Newark’s heritage in liberation movements like the Underground Railroad, Black Arts Movement, Civil Rights Movement, and the Movement for Black Lives.