Emancipation would not be achieved for all of America’s enslaved until June 19, 1865. . Over 600,000 heroic lives, both black and white, would be lost before bringing this country to that moment, a moment that should never be forgotten. Archer Alexander, had broken his own chains, and can be seen rising before President Lincoln. The Emancipation Monument was erected by the former enslaved as a memorial to Lincoln because of his Emancipation Proclamation.
Archer Alexander was born enslaved in Virginia, and in 1863 was the property of Richard Pitman, a slaveowner in Saint Charles County Missouri. Said to be the last fugitive slave, he had bravely risked his life to break his chains and gain his freedom. After overhearing a plot by area men who were Confederates sympathizers, Alexander, also known as Archey, informed the nearby Union troops of the events that were about to happen. Archey, was chased, shot, attacked and imprisoned in the St. Louis prison for his actions. Managing to survive he became “an emancipated slave by virtue of the Proclamation of the President of the United States made 1st January 1863, under the provisions of the Act of Congress of July 17, 1862 and for important services to the United States Military forces and for disloyalty of master” as announced in a St. Louis newspaper in September…
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Dorris Keeven Franke 