{"id":141622,"date":"2026-02-03T04:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/141622\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:29:18","slug":"florida-lawmakers-to-dedicate-capitol-memorial-to-enslaved-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/141622\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida lawmakers to dedicate Capitol memorial to enslaved people"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida Legislative Black Caucus will\u00a0formally dedicate\u00a0the “Circle of Chains” memorial sculpture<\/a> on Feb. 3 and\u00a0mark the site of\u00a0Steven Whyte\u2019s\u00a0bronze sculpture of six enslaved\u00a0people at\u00a0the Florida Capitol\u00a0as a place of reflection and healing.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the Florida Legislature approved spending $400,000\u00a0to create and install\u00a0the country\u2019s\u00a0first memorial to slaves on a state Capitol’s\u00a0grounds.<\/a> The life-sized sculpture of men, women and a child held in chains was unveiled in April with little fanfare or broad public notice.<\/p>\n

It sits\u00a0next to the historic Union Bank building\u00a0in Memorial Park, which extends the Capitol campus across Monroe Street. The bank\u00a0was a\u00a0leading financial institution of the region\u2019s antebellum slave-based economy\u00a0and would\u00a0become the Freedmen\u2019s Savings and Trust Company after the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Its\u00a0installation and dedication ceremony comes within a broader political context of a highly polarized debate about\u00a0how\u00a0Florida teaches Black history and curtailment of diversity initiatives.<\/p>\n

NAACP once declared Florida ‘hostile to Black Americans’<\/p>\n

In 2023, the NAACP issued a travel advisory<\/a> for Florida, arguing that the state has become \u201chostile to Black Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization also cited Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 landmark education bill, the Stop W.O.K.E. Act,<\/a> which restricts how race relations are taught, as an attempt to erase Black history.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In Circle of Chains memorial at the Florida state capitol, one slave breaks the chain that cuffs his wrist but holds on to the one that connects him to the others<\/p>\n

Although the Department of Management Services, the state\u2019s property manager, has not held an official unveiling, Rep. Felecia Simone Robinson, D-Miami, said the department has been working with the caucus\u00a0to\u00a0make sure the sculpture and site is at its \u201cbest looking\u201d for the dedication.<\/p>\n

When asked if the state plans an official dedication ceremony, DMS did not respond.\u00a0\u201cBut I am the state,\u201d Robinson said, when asked about a lack of state recognition.<\/p>\n

Robinson is the Black Caucus\u2019 co-chair and is organizing the event. She\u00a0said she and other caucus members are state representatives\u00a0and senators,\u00a0some of the very\u00a0lawmakers that\u00a0passed\u00a0the\u00a0legislation to create\u00a0the sculpture,\u00a0who\u00a0now want\u00a0to celebrate it.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.<\/p>\n

Rep. Felicia Simone Robinson, D-Miami-Dade is the Legislative Black Caucus co-chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not to make anyone feel\u00a0badly\u00a0towards their predecessors. It is to memorialize, to recognize and honor the men, women, and children that suffered the indignity and cruelties that slavery inflicted upon a race of people,\u201d said Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.\u00a0He sponsored the bill that authorized the sculpture.<\/p>\n

Artwork ‘breathes history and reaches forward all at once’<\/p>\n

When he was commissioned as the sculptor,\u00a0Whyte said the challenge was to create\u00a0public art that\u00a0\u201cbreathes history and reaches forward all at once.\u201d\u00a0And with “Circle of Chains,” Robinson said Whyte\u00a0accomplished\u00a0the\u00a0mission.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0sculpture\u00a0illustrates the weight of history in six individuals connected by a chain. A\u00a0man\u00a0with a whip-scarred back holds a broken chain in one hand, and in his other hand is a chain attached to a small child.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.<\/p>\n

Sen. Darryl Rouson poses for photo during opening day of the Florida legislative session Tuesday, March 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

The child\u2019s chain trails behind them to a\u00a0young woman in tattered clothes,\u00a0seemingly on\u00a0display for sale. She\u00a0stares at the\u00a0Union Bank,\u00a0which\u00a0possibly would\u00a0have financed the transaction.\u00a0Her chain connects to\u00a0a man\u00a0writhing\u00a0on\u00a0the ground with an anguished look on his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to live in the past, but we don\u2019t want to forget it either because what happened in the past actually laid a foundation to how strong of a people we are now,\u201d Robinson said.\u00a0\u201cYou\u00a0have to\u00a0be there and see it and get the full effect \u2013\u00a0it’s\u00a0amazing. I just invite everyone to come and share our joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you go<\/p>\n

The\u00a0dedication\u00a0ceremony will begin\u00a0at 4 p.m. in the parking lot that the Circle of Chains shares with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville,\u00a0will deliver a keynote speech. Other lawmakers will present a\u00a0historic monologue and a reading of a series of statements made by\u00a0Black historical figures.<\/p>\n

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK \u2013\u00a0Florida Capital Bureau. Reach him at\u00a0jcall@tallahassee.com<\/a>\u00a0and follow him on Twitter\/X:\u00a0@<\/a>CallTallahassee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Black Caucus to dedicate Florida slavery memorial at Capitol<\/a><\/p>\n