Maya McFadden Photo
After seven years of planning, New Haven Saturday unveiled a 700-pound bronze monument to one of the seminal and no-longer forgotten figures of the city’s Black history, William Lanson.
The monument was unveiled at a ceremony along the Farmington Canal Trail in the Dixwell neighborhood, where Lanson will now stand as a reminder of too-often-forgotten heroes.
Lanson, an early 19th century local engineer, entrepreneur, and Black political leader who freed himself from slavery and was elected “Black governor” in 1825, helped build the Farmington Canal and Long Wharf during his time working and living in Antebellum New Haven.
“I can see someone I know in William Lanson,” Metropolitan Business Academy student activist Antonia Wright (pictured) said at Saturday’s ceremony. She said the Lanson statue makes her feel represented and motived to research more about Black history.
Oakland-based sculptor Dana King, who created the statue, said she strived to liberate Lanson’s spirt. While sculpting Lanson’s Black body in bronze, King said, she looked to capture what hurt him, who loved him, and who he truly was. “Black bodies in bronze can no longer be hurt,” she said.
King sculpted Lanson’s scar above his left eye. The statue is positioned in a stance of confidence and power, said King. With a clenched fist, King said, she suggested if Lanson were alive today she knows he would be protesting with Black Lives Matter.
King said she forsees a nest of birds forming in Lanson’s hallowed out top hat. “He will bless us with new life,” she said.
Francis Miller, founder of ConservArt LLC, finished installing the monument Friday around 11 p.m. Miller installed the statue according to King’s vision: Lanson is positioned to eye the Farmington Canal Greenway rather than the street.
Organizers and community members joined the celebration to reconize the American story of Lanson and his accoplishments and impact on the city.
“This is more than a portrayal of a man but a call to action,” said Amistad Committee President, Alfred Marder (pictured).
Malcolm Welfare, leadership coordinator and technology teacher for New Haven Public Schools, led the audience in a libation to thank and salute the land’s ancestors of the north, south, east, and west.
The project started seven years ago with support from former Mayor Toni Harp. Harp worked with Marder in support of the project when first proposed. Harp recalled her learning the importance of Lanson to New Haven’s Black history.
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison recalled growing up receiving history lessons that left out important figures. She said she learned only that “Martin Luther King Jr. was good. Malcolm X was bad. And Harriet Tubman freed the slaves.” It wasn’t until Morrison attended Morgan State Univeristy when she learned more about Black history.
Morrison worked as the organizers’ liaison to the city for the Lanson project. A larger plan for a William Lanson Plaza is in the works, she. Morrison called for the public schools’ curriculum to include Lanson and other important Black figures in the city’s history.
Assistant Superintendent for High Schools Paul Whyte said he will take up Morrison’s homework assignment.
Many of the speakers Saturday spoke of Lanson’s contributions to the city. Guest wore mask during the celebration and seats were spaced six feet apart.
Lanson was proclaimed a trailblazer, visionary leader, king, legacy, and hero by the gathered crowd, which included the planning committee (pictured).
In his time Lanson was defamed by white city leaders who resented his accomplishments. U.S Rep Rosa DeLauro said the celebration and monument recognize the city’s history and mission to work towards equity.
At the Saturday ceremony Mayor Justin Elicker declared Sept. 26 William Lanson Day in New Haven. Elicker also proclaimed a pardon on behalf of the city for alleged past municipal violations under his authority. “You have been wronged by us, and as much as we can we wish to make it right,” he said.
After the unveiling, community members posed for photos with the seven-foot-tall bronze statue.
Welfare sang Luther Vandross’s “The Impossible Dream” in honor of Lanson whose “impossible dream was brought to life today.”
Welfare faced the Lanson statue while singing:
That one man, scorned /
And covered with scars, /
Still strove with his last /
Ounce of courage /
To reach the unreachable …
… then followed it up with Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
Sculptor King said she will return to New Haven to check in with Lanson. The statue will also be waxed once a year, she said.
“Young screenwriters get busy,” said Yale Professor of History and African American Studies & American David Blight, who encouraged New Havener’s to continue to “breathe in history” and showcase it.
While Luther Van Dross, and many others covered "The Impossible Dream", the lyrics were written by a dead, white man, Joe Darion, set to music by another dead, white man, Mitch Leigh, as part of a musical version of a tale by a even deader, white, Hispanic man, de Cervantes.
Great literature and great art transcends cultures to speak to near universal themes of man. Thus, Margaret Holloway was enamored of Shakespeare, and I was able to tell Jocelyn Bioh, after watching her play about life in a 1980's Ghanian girls boarding school, that my 1970's New England boys, prep school experience was Just Like That.