Archer Alexander was a former black slave who served as the model for the slave in the statue, variously known as Freedom Memorial and the Emancipation Memorial

Emancipation Memorial

The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman’s Memorial or the Emancipation Group, and sometimes referred to as the "Lincoln Memorial" before the present more prominent so-named memorial was built, is a monument in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C.Designed...

located in Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park (Washington D.C.)

Lincoln Park is an urban park located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was planned by Pierre Charles L'Enfant to be the point from which all distances in North America would be measured....

. He was also the subject of a moving biography, The Story of Archer Alexander, written by William Greenleaf Eliot

William Greenleaf Eliot

William Greenleaf Eliot was an American educator, Unitarian minister, and civic leader in Missouri. He is most notable for founding Washington University in St. Louis, but also contributed to the founding of numerous other civic institutions, such as the St...

.

According to Eliot, Alexander was born in 1815 on the Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 of the Ferrell Family in Kincastle, Virginia. Alexander's father was sold by Ferrell to pay off debts while Alexander was still a child. Shortly thereafter, Delaney died and left Alexander to his son, Tom Ferrell, who moved to Missouri, taking his slave with him. Alexander's mother, left behind in Virginia, died only a few months later. Alexander himself was hired out by Ferrell to local brickyards in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, until he needed even more money, when he sold Alexander to a farmer named Richard H. Pitman who lived in the area on the border of St. Charles County, Missouri and Warren County, Missouri

Warren County, Missouri

Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Warren County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area and is located west of the city on the north side of the Missouri River. As of 2008, the population was estimated to be 31,214. Its county seat is Warrenton...

. Alexander had married before this a slave woman named Louisa, who was owed by James Naylor and she accompanied him. Alexander was purchased in 1844 and worked for Hickman for more than twenty years, and was sufficiently respected by him enough that he gave Alexander the job of functioning in an overseer capacity on the farm. During this time, Alexander and Louisa became the parents of several children, some of whom Naylor sent away because of their behavior.

Before the onset of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, Alexander listened to the political discussion and determined that he would flee from his life as a slave if the opportunity arose. In 1863, Alexander covertly notified a group of Union troops that a bridge they intended to use had been sabotaged by Confederate sympathizers. He was shortly thereafter suspected of being the source of this information, and had to flee the farm. He was later captured by slave catchers, but broke free from them and returned again to St. Louis.

He went downtown to look for work in one of the public markets. Eliot's wife was there as well, having come to hire a servant. She hired Alexander, and brought him home. Alexander proved to be reticent about his recent history, leading Eliot himself to suspect that Alexander was an escaped slave, which left him in an uncomfortable situation. He had some years earlier stated that he personally would never return a fugitive slave to his former master, and he now faced that very situation. He obtained a certificate to keep Alexander for 30 days, and quickly wrote Hickman, offering to pay Alexander from him. Hickman turned down the offer, vowing he would have the slave back.

Two day's before the expiration of his certificate, Alexander was found by some slave catchers Hickman had evidently hired. Eliot managed to find Alexander and keep him safe until the Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...

 was issued. Alexander and his wife were reunited, if only for a short time. In 1866, Louisa decided to return to Naylor's house for some things she had left there. Alexander would later find out that Louisa had died, two days after her arrival, of a mysterious disease.

In 1869, Eliot was working with a group to build a statue of Lincoln. Thomas Ball had an acceptable model made, but Eliot's group wanted to have a real freedman pose for it. Eliot gave Ball a photo of Alexander, and he was chosen as the model.

In 1876, the statue was unveiled, with several notable people, including Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

, members of his cabinet, the United States Supreme Court and other notable government figures, and Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...

, another former slave, in attendance. However, neither Alexander nor Eliot were present.

Eliot and his son, Christopher, were with his friend Alexander when the latter died in 1880. Archer gave Christopher a gold watch for teaching him how to read. Eliot noted that Alexander died thanking God that he had died in freedom.