Unbound: King’s Chapel Unveils New Memorial to Enslaved Persons

There is a glorious sight at the corner of School and Tremont Streets, in the courtyard of historic King’s Chapel, that makes a monumental statement about the church’s history with slavery.

The 14-foot sculpture “Unbound” is part of the chapel’s Memorial to Enslaved Persons, an initiative acknowledging that early congregants and clergy engaged in slavery and slave trading and recognizing the humanity of the people who were stripped of their liberty.

“Unbound” was unveiled on Sunday, September 14. It pays homage to the 219 enslaved lives accounted for by researchers with the King’s Chapel History Program since launching an intensive search in 2016. Those 219 enslaved lives—from the 17th through the early 18th centuries—are men, women and children. Most have only one name, no doubt attached to them by a slave owner. A number of them aren’t listed by name at all, but were given a general descriptor: Unnamed Infant Girl, Unnamed 7-Year-Old Boy, Unnamed Woman, Unnamed Man, Unnamed Person.

It’s a commemoration that was centuries in the making, though earlier King’s Chapel congregants were not aware that their practices of enslavement would result in the creation of a magnificent monument of acknowledgement and atonement.

King’s Chapel commissioned artist Harmonia Rosales, in collaboration with MASS Design Group, to create the sculpture. (MASS Design was also a partner in the creation of “The Embrace” monument on Boston Common to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King by artist Hank Willis Thomas.) Rosales, a native of Chicago, is an Afro-Cuban American artist.

In her winning proposal, Rosales described her idea for the memorial as follows:

• a figurative sculpture of a woman personifying freedom in the chapel courtyard, holding open a birdcage;
• a collection of bronze birds perched, representing free will, rebirth and empowerment;
• and, in a future phase, an immersive ceiling mural inside the chapel sanctuary, depicting Black and Indigenous people releasing birds into the sky.

“Unbound” has a commanding presence in the King’s Chapel courtyard; she is like an African diasporic matriarchal figure. Wearing a flowing, white garment, she sits holding a bird cage with its door open, giving the fowl the opportunity to take their freedom. A few birds gather at her feet in front and behind her. There is a bird atop the cage, as well as some perched on the chapel building behind her. 

Not only is “Unbound” a memorial to people enslaved by chapel leaders and members, but she is representative of the countless African-descended people enslaved in the British American colonies and later, the United States.

Founded in 1686, King’s Chapel was the first Anglican church in New England. The landmark structure at the corner of Tremont and School Streets was built in 1754.  Since 1789, it has been a Christian Unitarian church.

According to the King's Chapel website, before the Revolutionary War at least 55 members, including four ministers and several wardens and vestrymen, were slaveholders; three were slave traders. The chapel’s wealthy members funded the sanctuary, which was segregated through the early 20th century.