A Frederick Douglass mural in his hometown in Maryland draws some divisions

NATIONAL

A Frederick Douglass mural in his hometown in Maryland draws some divisions

DECEMBER 21, 20236:00 AM ET
By Alana Wise



This Frederick Douglass mural in Easton, Md., is a modern-day makeover that has some in the abolitionist's hometown divided.
Alana Wise/NPR

A small town on Maryland's Eastern Shore has found itself divided over a new mural depiction of the county's most elder statesman, Frederick Douglass. ... On the wall outside of the Out of the Fire restaurant in Easton, a 21-foot-tall Douglass is seen posed in a slim, European-cut suit, high-top white Converse sneakers, and an oversized wristwatch — squatting like he's posing for Instagram. ... His facial expression is the same look of defiance often captured on the 19th- century's most photographed figure, and behind him, dripping graffiti reads the word "Liberty."

Restaurant owner Amy Haines and her husband, Richard Marks, said they ordered the larger-than-life portrait of Douglass as a way to honor the famed abolitionist and to bring more public art to Easton. ... "We always felt that the one wall, the very substantial wall on Washington Street, should have a mural, and it should be Frederick Douglass," Marks said. ... "When we came across a print that our friend sent us — a copy of Frederick Douglass in a contemporary setting — we looked at it and felt very strongly that if we were going to move forward with the mural, that would be a great image to have."

The portrait has been up for just over a month, but already, some members of the community have spoken out against the image, including a number of Douglass' descendants who say the portrayal is humiliating. ... "Cousin Jack called me and said, 'Have you seen that mural they got up on the wall? Got Uncle Frederick looking like a hoodlum,' " said Tarence Bailey, a fifth-generation descendant of Douglass. ... "I called the owner of it that night and had a talk with him," Bailey said of a conversation with Marks. "And he made comments where he said, 'I think it reaches out to the youth.' " ... "And I said, you know, these are the same young Black boys we're trying to get to pull up their pants. We don't need them aspiring to something like that."

For Bailey and others who oppose the mural, the differing opinions on the piece represent something much bigger than art. ... Haines and Marks, the couple behind the mural, are both white — as is the artist who made the piece. Bailey and many of the picture's most vocal detractors are Black. ... "That mural does not look like the recorder of deeds," Bailey said. "Does not look like a U.S. marshal. Doesn't look like the man that fought for the rights of women and all Black folk."

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