Memorial to slaves remains a dream; park officials urged to step up project

By Lindsay Grace

November 10, 2004 | PHILADELPHIA -- More than two years ago, Congress directed the National Park Service to "appropriately commemorate" the slaves kept by George Washington at the first presidential mansion in Philadelphia, just steps away from where the Liberty Bell resides.

But the site -- now a wide sidewalk along a popular thoroughfare in the city, Market Street -- is still vacant and unacknowledged, angering some black leaders and scholars who accuse the park service of "dragging their feet."

Should it be realized, the commemoration at Independence National Historical Park would become the first federal memorial to slavery in the nation.

"We have to tell the truth, whether it hurts or not," said Charles Blockson, curator of the Blockson collection of African-American material at Temple University.

"In the city of Philadelphia, it's never been told," Park Superintendent Mary Bomber said she agreed the spot should be demarcated as the site where some of Washington's slaves lived. Some officials had previously resisted the idea, saying it could not be documented conclusively that the site had been used as slave quarters. But after a forum Oct. 30, Bomber said her staff accepted the argument that both black and white slaves lived on the spot.

That could be the basis for the placement of a temporary acknowledgment, but a larger plan to commemorate Washington's slaves and the Presidents' House, where Washington and John Adams lived and worked, has no funding, she said.

"We're not sweeping anything under the rug," Bomber said. "Nothing could suit me better than to move forward with the project."

Bomber said last week she would push agency officials in Philadelphia and in Washington, D.C., to come up with funds for the $4.5 million project. The city of Brotherly Love has pledged $1.5 million already.

By clearly marking the slave quarters, visitors to the Liberty Bell would metaphorically "pass from the hell of slavery into the heaven of liberty" as they enter the center, said Michael Coard, leader of Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which has been pushing for a full commemorative memorial on the site.

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