2006 RV - Doug & Crystal

This is the African American Monument and is located on the south side of Grant Avenue between milepost 4.3 and 4.4. The statue was erected by the State of Mississippi at a cost of $300,000, which includes $25,000 contributed by the City of Vicksburg. The sculpture is the work of Dr. Kim Sessums an artist from Brookhaven, MississippiThe monument consists of three bronze figures on a base of black African granite. Two of the figures are black Union soldiers, while the third is a common field hand.



The African American Civil War Memorial. We visited the welcome center of the National Park and saw this portrait. This painting is acually done by a local gentleman that lives here in Vicksburg.














The field hand and one soldier support between them the second soldier who is wounded and represents the sacrifice in blood made by black soldiers on the field of battle during the Civil War. The field hand is looking behind at a past of slavery, while the first soldier gazes toward a future of freedom secured by force of arms on the field of battle

Once this presentation was made, the state incorporated the bronze statue in the cemetery park.