Rain garden and sculptures to be unveiled in Juneteenth celebration

Five life-size bronze sculptures of enslaved Africans who lived and worked at Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers are set to be displayed at The Enslaved Africans”™ Rain Garden that is due to be unveiled on June 17, when Yonkers begins this year”™s celebration of Juneteenth weekend.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano along with sculptor Vinnie Bagwell, local artists and community leaders are scheduled to lead a ceremony at the rain garden located at 20 Water Grant St.

The sculptures by Bagwell interpret the legacy of five enslaved Africans who in 1799 were among the first to be freed from slavery by their owners, 64 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

The sculptures are titled “Themba the Boatman,” “I”™Satta,” “Bibi,” “Sola” and “Olumide.” They will be on display in the half-acre rain garden along the Hudson River esplanade. Each sculpture will be set in a vignette that includes a bench and landscape features of trees, shrubs and flowers against the backdrop of a stone-lined ravine.

Life-sized bronze public artworks of enslaved Africans created by Vinnie Bagwell. From left: :“Bibi,” “I”™Satta,” “Sola,” “Olumide,” and “Themba the Boatman.” Photo by Maurice Mercado/City of Yonkers.

“On behalf of the residents of Yonkers, I am proud our city is the permanent home to this poignant art exhibit that not only tells the remarkable story of some of our first residents but the place they and our city have in the nation”™s complicated history,” Spano said. “Public art has become a hallmark of Yonkers”™ diversity and vibrancy and the Rain Garden joins the growing landscape of beautiful expression here.”

Bagwell commented, “Public art sends a message about the values and priorities of a community. In the spirit of transformative justice for acts against the humanity of black people, I am grateful for those who supported this collective effort.”

Former Yonkers City Council Majority Leader Patricia McDow, ArtsWestchester”™s CEO Janet Langsam, the Yonkers Board of Education, Sarah Lawrence College, historians, scholars, community-based organizations and community members collaborated with Bagwell in making the garden a reality, which included incorporating a nonprofit 501(c)(3) arts organization.

The Enslaved Africans”™ Rain Garden is funded by the city of Yonkers; Westchester County; the state of New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; the New York State Council on the Arts; the National Endowment for the Arts, ArtsWestchester; Con Edison; and Entergy.

The design, construction and landscape architectural plans of the garden were completed by BCT Design Studio, TJR Excavating Contractors Inc., and Bowman Design Company.