Statue of civil rights icon A. Philip Randolph erected in Newark. Meet the artist who spent 7 months sculpting it
NEWARK, N.J. -- A new statue of A. Philip Randolph, the civil rights icon, was unveiled Monday in Newark.
It's artist Sterling Brown's latest labor of love.
"More should be done to let people know who this gentleman was," said Brown.
Brown started with a small clay maquette, or model, before the full-size version was realized. He carved the 7-foot tall statue in his Jersey City studio.
It took two and a half months just to sculpt the head, he said. Then it was off to the foundry to be molded into brass.
Brown said this project was different than anything else in his 30 years as an artist.
"I'm actually very honored and happy that I was chosen to depict this great gentleman," said Brown.
After seven months in the studio, it was time for the unveiling.
"It's exciting. A little nerve-wracking too," said Brown.
The statue has a prominent place outside Newark Penn Station, a fitting home for a man who integrated the labor movement and helped integrate the nation.
Jerry Owens, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute's Essex County chapter, led the effort to have the statue erected.
"Because we want our kids to be able to walk by here and see that statue of A. Philip Randolph. And we want them to be educated on African American kids, which was taken away from us as we came up in this country," said Owens.
The statue in Newark is one of only three A. Philip Randolph statues in the U.S.
"If he was alive, I think he would be very pleased with it," said Brown.
The statue was erected thanks to a partnership with NJ Transit, which donated the land where it now stands.