Frederick Douglass Circle: W110

Frederick Douglass Circle was named after the renowned statesmen, Frederick Douglass, in 1950. Douglass was an abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman, and reformer. The circle is a key site along the "Gateway to Harlem" at the confluence of Central Park West, Central Park North and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Hungarian-born sculptor Gabriel Koren created the eight-foot bronze statue of Douglass. Algernon Miller, a local Harlem artist conceived of the site memorial which was dedicatedin 2011.The memorial consists of an eight-foot bronze portrait sculpture by Gabriel Koren, and a large circle and fountain with ornamental and symbolic features designed by Algernon Miller.
Miller’s overall design includes granite seating and paving patterns based on traditional African-American quilt motifs, as well as a bronze perimeter fence with a wagon wheel motif.  He also responded to the design competition guidelines with a bronze water wall depicting the Big Dipper constellation that guided those on the “underground railroad.”