This memorial depicts Abraham Lincoln holding his Emancipation Proclamation, standing over the figure of Archer Alexander, who is breaking the chains of slavery. Lincoln's Proclamation was a military order during the Civil War that set free the slaves in Confederate territories. Alexander was the last slave captured under the Fugitive Slave Act.

The memorial was begun at the suggestion of Mrs. Charlotte Scott, a former slave, who believed that Lincoln should be honored with a statue funded entirely by African-Americans. She donated $5, the first money she earned as a free woman.

Frederick Douglass delivered a stirring oration at the dedication ceremony.