New Tubman bust unveiled at church

Salem Chapel BME Church celebrates restoration work, replacement of smashed statue

Harriet Tubman is back in fine form.

The Salem Chapel British Methodist Episcopal Church unveiled a new bust of the famed abolitionist Thursday after her former stone statue was damaged in an act of vandalism last fall.

The bronze likeness was set near the pulpit to face pews of parishioners, but it will be moved to the outdoor courtyard, where the previous statute stood, later this year.

“Not until we get the fence is she going outside. Not going to happen,” said Rochelle Bush, the church’s trustee and historian.

Bush said she was nervous about the statue being damaged again, especially after the vandalism at Harriet Tubman Public School in St. Catharines earlier this month, which is being investigated as a hate crime, and another incident of a Tubman statue being damaged south of the border in Maryland last year.

“She’s under attack, so we’re going to keep her in for a bit,” Bush said.

The gathering inside the historic church on Geneva Street where Tubman worshipped was a dual celebration Thursday to mark the arrival of the new statue and the completion of major restoration work on the church itself.

It was also a welcoming for the church’s new neighbours — the Niagara Regional Police District 1 station which opened during the pandemic, delaying plans for an earlier meet-and-greet.

Community members and dignitaries joined in remarks, prayers and the clapping and stomping of feet as Brian Dorsey, a former city councillor, sang for the group.

“I’m happy about the day,” Bush said afterwards. “It was great having everybody here, that was fantastic, and welcoming our new neighbours.”

Tubman escaped slavery in the American south in the mid-1800s and then risked her life to lead others to freedom with multiple trips north via the Underground Railroad.

She lived in St. Catharines and attended the Salem Chapel for most of the 1850s.

The new bust was made by artist Frank Rekrut in his studio in Florence, Italy. A former St. Catharines resident, Rekrut sculpted the original stone statue for the church, spending months creating a three dimensional likeness from a black and white photo.

The original piece was installed in the church courtyard in September 2010. That statue was damaged on Oct. 10, 2021, when a man pushed it off its pedestal in an act caught on church surveillance video. The nose was smashed in the fall.

The man was sentenced to five months in jail for multiple charges in March, including mischief over $5,000 for damaging the statue, which his lawyer attributed to a mental health episode.

Rekrut wasn’t able to fly back to Canada for the unveiling but his son Mike spoke at the event and said Rekrut holds no ill wishes against the man and hopes he finds happiness in his life.

The destruction, however, shocked the community and an online fundraiser started by Natasha Bell, owner of Blackowned905, raised $17,500 for a new piece in just 10 days. The amount exceeded the original $10,000 goal and paid for the statue, with some money left over to fix other things at the church.

“It feels amazing to see that the community was able to come together for something so great to happen,” Bell said at the church after the unveiling.

NRP Chief Bryan Macculloch said the “senseless, callous act” had

a profound impact on not just the Black community and the congregation of Salem Chapel, but on the entire community.

He said the celebration Thursday recognized and ensured that the inspirational work of Tubman in leading enslaved people is never forgotten.

“Coming together today as a community, we celebrate that legacy while also recognizing that we all have a pivotal role in ensuring that racial injustice and discrimination in all forms can not be tolerated in a free and democratic society,” Macculloch said.

The new statue, which Bush said was stuck in customs for two months, arrived around the same time restoration work on the church by Shoalts Engineering was finishing.

The work on front exterior windows, two side windows, the staircase, lower-level ceiling, furnace relocation and balcony flooring was paid with $100,000 from the federal government.

St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle said the BME church holds stories about the history of St. Catharines and Ontario that students don’t often hear because history has consistently been incomplete.

“We need to understand, acknowledge and appreciate that Black history is Canadian history. That it is not a subset, it is fundamentally a part of it,” he told those gathered.

Other work at the church to replace an awning being held up with two beams and a cracked outdoor staircase that was hit by a vehicle was also undertaken using some of the $100,000 raised online by the church between 2017 and 2019 for emergency repairs.