Abraham Lincoln never actually visited Detroit. He did sail down the Detroit River and probably gazed on its skyline while aboard the steamboat Globe in 1848. Many believe, by the way, that while on that trip he conceived of the idea that would eventually lead to his being the only President to have a patent awarded. Mr. Lincoln is not far from the Detroit River today, however- or at least a statue of him. Located in a small park at the North side of Detroit’s Skillman Library at 121 Gratiot Avenue stands the impressive figure sculpted by Alfonzo Pelzer in 1895. I had the opportunity to gaze upon its beauty March 14, 2009. At the base of the statue are inscribed the words: “Let man be free.”  The statue has quite a history. In fact, the current statue at the Skillman Library is not the original one, but a copy. The original statue had been vandalized during the 1960’s and again in the 1990’s and is now placed inside Detroit’s Burton Library.

The original statue was previously placed on the grounds of the Ford Motor Car factory at Warren and Livernois Avenue from 1919 to 1958. After Ford ceased building Lincoln automobiles at the plant, the statue was given to the city of Detroit. It has since gone through several restorations, including one spearheaded by the Detroit Free Press writer Neal Shine. Sculptor Alfonzo Pelzer came to the United States in the 1890s. He was commissioned by the city of Lincoln, New Jersey to create the statue. At least six copies of the statue were produced. Detroit was the benefactor of one of the copies. He designed the Lincoln figure holding the Emancipation Proclamation. That document’s importance should not be lost as to its significance for ending slavery in America, as it paved the way for the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment and other subsequent amendments regarding freedom and equality.  And that’s the true significance of the statue-not the statue itself, made of materials that will eventually crumble and weather away, but the idea that “all men are created equal.”  That concept is meant to apply not only to Americans but to all humanity.

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