A contest is underway to select the quote that will appear on the soon-to-be-installed Harriet Tubman statue in Center City.
In February, Philadelphia officials released an open call asking for an original quote to appear on the back of the base of the 15-foot sculpture. Two other quotes from the abolitionist will appear on the sides. Now, residents are being asked to choose one of six submissions.
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The contest, which was hosted by the city’s office of arts and culture, Creative Philadelphia, was open to anyone who lives or works in the city. Officials asked for a one- or two-sentence response to the question, “What does it mean to walk in Harriet Tubman’s footsteps today?” Answers could be literal, narrative or metaphorical, but they must be unattributed to any existing person or entity and reference the civil rights leader’s impact on future generations.
Voting is open until April 30, and the winner will be announced in May. Here are the six contenders:
• “Choose courage over conformity; freedom over fear; liberation over limitation.”
• “May courage, even in the face of oppression, always be our North Star.”
• “When freedom was only a whisper, she became its voice.”
• “Carry your light into the dark, for on the other side of fear is freedom.”
• “She did not consider herself a hero, she just did what she knew was right.”
• “She knew the way forward was going back.”
Creative Philly said that it had 160 submissions in total. The final choice will be attributed to “A Philadelphia citizen” on the statue, and the writer’s name will be on a credit panel for the installation.
The selected quotes from Tubman will be: “And I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight,” and “For no man should take me alive; I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted.”
The city decided to erect a permanent statue of Tubman after a temporary one was placed outside City Hall in 2022. The artist of that sculpture was initially given $500,000 to create it, but residents complained about the lack of open submissions.
Artist Alvin Pettit’s work, a bronze depiction of Tubman praying, was selected from five finalists. It was initially scheduled for completion in 2025, but no new timeline on its installation has been revealed yet.
