Honoring Solomon Northup: 'Hope Out of Darkness' Art Installation Comes To Boston

This week, the City Council adopted a resolution recognizing the temporary installation of Hope Out of Darkness, a bronze sculpture honoring the life and legacy of abolitionist Solomon Northup. The sculpture will be on view along the Rose Kennedy Greenway from October through December 2025, marking 170 years since Northup’s visit to Boston.

Northup, born a free man in New York in 1807, was kidnapped and sold into slavery, enduring twelve years of enslavement in Louisiana before regaining his freedom in 1853. His powerful memoir, "Twelve Years a Slave", along with his public lectures and dramatic works such as The Free Slave, played a vital role in strengthening the abolitionist movement across the country, including here in Boston.

The resolution highlights Boston’s historic role as both a city economically connected to slavery and a national center of anti-slavery activism. Northup’s lectures in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Fitchburg made a significant impact, influencing key abolitionist figures like Charles Sumner, Frederick Douglass, and William Lloyd Garrison.

The Hope Out of Darkness sculpture, created by artist Wesley Wofford and commissioned by the Solomon Northup Committee for Commemorative Works, invites Bostonians to reflect on the city's abolitionist legacy, the ongoing struggle for justice, and the transformative power of art. After its time in Boston, the sculpture will take permanent residence in Marksville, Louisiana — the city where Northup was freed.