LOCATING THE MEMORIAL: Beginning in 2018, a group of local residents formed REALM with the goal of honoring the enslaved Africans of Larchmont and Mamaroneck with a memorial that would tell the stories of the people whose involuntary labor helped build our community. Members researched a number of locations to find one that would be accessible to all Town residents. With the support of the Mamaroneck Town Board, REALM selected a site on the hill in front of the Town Center. That paved the way for members to issue a call for artists to propose designs for the memorial.
SELECTING THE ARTIST TEAM: In 2021-2022, REALM members reviewed several proposals. Ultimately, REALM selected the team of Judith Weber (coordinator); Sarah Coble and Sana Musasama (ceramic artists); and Mariví Perdomo Caba and Jorge L. Ventura Ovalles (architects). Their submission best responded to the call for a beautiful, permanent and prominent monument that illustrated Mamaroneck’s unique history of enslavement. The committee was impressed by the collective talents and experiences represented by the team and by their proposed concept, which was inspired by the stories depicted in Etruscan cave paintings and the Temple of Dendur. They aimed to tell the story “of this particular history of the Mamaroneck community” in a “learning, reflective and healing space created by fragments, drawings and shards embedded in concrete architectural forms.”
Fig. 1 The team’s early concept had curved walls and a “sanctuary” (above) with applied figurative and symbolic artwork (below).
From 2022-2024, the artist team met with REALM and the Mamaroneck Town Board to refine the memorial’s design and select its exact location on the Town Center hill. The original design (Figure 1) included two undulating walls and a curved “sanctuary” for reflecting on the lives of the enslaved people and the meaning of enslavement. The artwork included both figurative and symbolic elements.
The team explored alternative ideas, such as erecting one taller wall at the crest of the hill (Figure 2) and making use of the existing retaining walls leading to the Town Center entrance (Figure 3).
The final design was for one beautifully curved wall, approximately 7-foot tall and 7-foot wide, with ceramic artwork applied on both sides. The interior curve would hold a mural of close-fitting ceramic pieces by Sarah Coble. The mural would depict the lives of the enslaved Africans going about their many tasks in a Mamaroneck setting of trees, fields and houses with the Long Island Sound in the far distance. The exterior curve would have two large figures by Sarah Coble surrounded by mosaics with pieces by Sana Musasama and Judith Weber.
THE INTERIOR CURVE: Each element of the mural is based on research by local historians, including Ned Benton, Judith Doolin Spikes and Gloria Pritts. The two largest figures are of Jinny and Billy, a married couple who lived and worked with their children for the Mott family at Larchmont’s Premium Mill before and after their manumission. The REALM logo, which appears on the plaque to the right of the mural, includes an image of the couple in their later years based on a watercolor by Robert F. Mott. Billy, also known as Banjo Billy for his prowess with the African-style gourd instrument, is shown with a child at his feet, perhaps listening to his tales. In a Mott family history, both Billy and Jinny are remembered as entertaining children with their stories from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Read more about Jinny and Billy.
Jinny and Billy from the interior curve of the memorial
The tree behind Billy is inscribed with the names of babies born to enslaved mothers and registered with the Town of Mamaroneck, as required by An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, passed in New York in 1799. The law classified the babies as “indentured servants” who owed 25 (females) or 28 (males) years of services to the mothers’ enslavers. Read more about Local Slavery: 1661-1922
THE EXTERIOR CURVE: The large figures by Sarah Coble depict Andrew Cox and
e covered with a mosaic provide the sense of an enclosed “sanctuary” for reflection; it also references how slavery encloses the lives of the enslaved Africans, depicted going about their many tasks in a Mamaroneck setting of trees, fields, houses and the Long Island Sound Shore. Sarah Coble’s ceramic mural. The outer convex wall The exterior curve is covered by a mosaic the includes symbolic pieces by Sana Musasama and Judith Weber along with two large figures by Sarah Coble of John Cox and Andrew Cole, who escaped slavery in Mamaroneck by joining the British during the Revolutionary War. The theme is “The Flight to Freedom” and, in this case, the wall’s curvature adds to the sense of escape from bondage.
The convex exterior wall Sarah Coble’s ceramics on the interior curve fit together to depict the lives of the enslaved African people in a Mamaroneck setting of trees, fields, houses and the Sound Shore. The names carved into the large tree are of babies born to enslaved women and registered with the Town of Mamaroneck, as required by the gradual emancipation law of 18??. Each baby owed 25-27 years of indentured servitude to the mother’s enslaver.. The two largest sculptures are Banjo Billy and Jinny, a married couple who worked for decades at the Premium Mill before and after their manumission. The figures represent actuallThe concave curve embraces viewers and provides a sense of sanctuary to reflect upon the, but it also references how slavery encloses the lives of the enslaved. The exterior curve is covered by a mosaic the includes symbolic pieces by Sana Musasama and Judith Weber along with two large figures by Sarah Coble of Andrew Cox and John Cole, who escaped slavery in Mamaroneck by joining the British during the Revolutionary War. The theme is “The Flight to Freedom” and, in this case, the wall’s curvature adds to the sense of escape from bondage.
Once REALM, the Town Board and the artists agreed upon a basic shape and location, Sarah Coble began designing a ceramic mural for the interior curve of the memorial. Based upon details assembled from the available historical documents she sketched a scene to show the lives and labors of the enslaved people: In the foreground were Banjo Billy and Jinny, a married couple whose lives are detailed in the Mott family history.