Please Note: The Frederick Douglass statue in front of the school building was intended as a temporary installation when it went up in July 2018. The statue was removed in the winter of 2021.
On July 19, 2018, the City of Rochester installed a life-size statue of renowned African-American orator, writer, social reformer, and statesman Frederick Douglass in front of The Hochstein School. Hochstein is on the site of the Central Presbyterian Church, where funerals were held for both Frederick Douglass (d. 1895) and Susan B. Anthony (d. 1906).
Frederick Douglass was one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement. He made his home in Rochester from 1847-1872. Many believe that the most important work of his career was done in Rochester, including publishing The North Star newspaper and working with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in support of woman suffrage. In Rochester, Douglass found “no soil better” to grow, harvest and share his passion for the pursuit of freedom.
This life-size statue is the work of artist Olivia Kim, and is a replica of the original eight-foot bronze monument of Frederick Douglass by the sculptor Stanley W. Edwards, first installed in 1899 in Plymouth Park (now Lunsford Circle). It was the first civic monument in the country to honor an African-American man. The original statue is now in Highland Park. Replica statues are scattered around Rochester at sites that are significant to Douglass’s life and work.