BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The city’s proposal for an
art installation ostensibly
aimed at honoring the fi ght
against slavery in Downtown
Brooklyn was met with heavy
criticism from preservationists
and activists, who lambasted
the design put fourth
by the quasi-public Economic
Development Corporation for
ignoring the the area’s rich
abolitionist history.
“This sacred piece of land
lies at the heart of 100 years of
African-American activism,”
said amateur historian Raul
Rothblatt. “The EDC seems
grimly intent on destroying
any mention of this history.”
The agency tasked borough
artist Kameelah Janan
Rasheed to install text-based
artworks in the planned Willoughby
Square Park adjacent
to 227 Duffi eld St., where abolitionists
COURIER L 6 IFE, JAN. 29-FEB. 4, 2021
Thomas and Harriet
Lee-Truesdell lived in the mid-
1800s.
The artist said her proposal
was inspired by the role
of porches as gathering spaces
for Black activists, and that
her engravings on and around
the park’s seating areas could
inspire conversations about
the future of emancipation
and liberation.
Rasheed’s proposal, however,
did not reference either
anti-slavery activists, nor
did it highlight the work of
19th-century journalist Ida B.
Wells, who lived around the
corner on Gold Street.
“The EDC proposal for
what they call Willoughby
Square Park is insultingly
vague and devoid of any connection
to the history of the
neighborhood,” said Curtis
Harris, a candidate for the
Council’s 35th District.
The ire of the preservationists
came at a Jan. 19 virtual
hearing before the city’s Public
Design Commission, which
must give its go-ahead before
the project can go forward.
An unassuming brick rowhouse,
227 Duffi eld St. is believed
to have been a stop on
the Underground Railroad, according
to local lore, and the
city is currently considering
landmarking the structure
under threat of demolition.
Rothblatt, however, scolded
the city for siting the lawn’s
dog run right next to the old
building, which he worried
will cause local pooches to relieve
themselves above where
escaped slaves once hid in
tunnels underground.
“You’d literally be having
dog pee going where there
were tunnels under abolitionists’s
The proposed design of Willoughby Square Park. NYC EDC
home,” he said.
The 11-member Public Design
Commission voted to table
a decision on whether to
approve the project, with the
panel’s head urging the city
to give the artist more say in
how she wants to do the artwork,
and to engage more with
the community before coming
back with a more fl eshed-out
proposal.
A spokesman for EDC said
the two agencies will consider
the feedback and meet with locals
about the project in the
future.
“The purpose of today’s
meeting was to hear from the
Commission and collect testimony.
DCLA and NYCEDC
will work closely with the artist
to take into account the
feedback provided today in
the conceptual design meeting
with PDC. We look forward to
future meetings with community
members and relevant design
agencies,” said Chris Singleton
in a statement.
‘INSULTING’
Preservationists slam city’s Downtown art
proposal for glossing over abolitionist history
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