Artist's rendering of the Beacon of Freedom in Raleigh's North Carolina Freedom Park | ncfmp.nationbuilder.com
Artist's rendering of the Beacon of Freedom in Raleigh's North Carolina Freedom Park | ncfmp.nationbuilder.com
North Carolina community leaders saw the Beacon of Freedom when it was unveiled Thursday, a monument designed to represent the quest for freedom by Black people.
Late architect Phil Freelon designed the beacon, and it will be the cornerstone of the future North Carolina Freedom Park in downtown Raleigh.
“When I look at the beacon, I can see the flame that Phil Freelon was trying to bring out,” Reginald Hodges, a member of Freedom Park Board, said in a WNCN report.
The monument has long been in the planning stages, and Hodges and others toured the site Thursday. A Colorado company spent a year working on the monument.
The monument will have five walkways leading to it, and there will be quotes—mostly from black North Carolinians—lining the walls of the park. The park’s location between the legislative building and the executive mansion was quite intentional.
“There is no way you can come out of that legislature and not be struck by the beacon of freedom and be reminded of what your ultimate responsibility and to whom you must be accountable,” board member Reginald Hildebrand said.
The park should be completed sometime next year.
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