HARRIET TUBMAN MONUMENT PROJECT

The Harriet Tubman Monument Project is a powerful celebration of the legacy of abolitionist Harriet Tubman and touchpoint for the Liberation Stories of Newark, New Jersey and beyond, and is physically centered in the new Harriet Tubman Square Park in Newark.

In June 2020, amid calls for racial justice and by order of the Honorable Mayor Ras J. Baraka, the City of Newark commissioned artist and architect Nina Cooke John to design a monument to honor the legacy of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. This network of abolitionists and safe houses assisted enslaved people on their journeys north to freedom and had many “stations” in New Jersey, at least one of which was in Newark.

The Monument leverages public space and community engagement to become a transformative element of the historic, arts and education-led activation of Downtown Newark. It was funded by The City of Newark, Audible, the Mellon Foundation, the State of New Jersey and individual residents in partnership and collaboration with The Newark City Parks Foundation, Newark Arts, The Newark Museum of Art, the Newark Public Library and DreamPlay Media.

The Harriet Tubman Monument project was a collaborative effort among a diverse set of individuals and organizations, led fayemi shakur, Arts and Cultural Affairs Director of the City of Newark, NJ. Artist and architect Nina Cooke John, a 2022 United States Artists Fellow, led a diverse group of fabricators from New Jersey and New York, and was assisted by multimedia artist Adebunmi Gbadebo, the Community Apprentice, who engaged residents around the making of ceramic tiles and oral history programs. In addition, the Monument has an immersive audio component designed by Wolfgang Gil, thanks to Audible, who also commissioned Newark legend Queen Latifah to record narrated audio to deepen the educational experience of the monument.

FILM CREDITS

Directed and Produced by Igor Alves
Executive Producers: Igor Alves, Yuri Alves
Director of Photography: Gabriel Kurzlop
Editor: Victor Buitrago
Camera Operators: Caroline Sincaruk, Peter Morris, Chris Andrade, Andre Marques, Gabriel Kurzlop, Yuri Alves, Igor Alves
Sound Recording: Victor Buitrago
Photographer: Cesar Melgar
Colorist: Gabriel Kurzlop
Sound Mix / Design: Victor Buitrago
Assistant Editor: Andre Marques
Consulting Producers: fayemi shakur, David Andersson
Production company: DreamPlay Films

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