Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff
The congregation at King’s Chapel, the home church for many famous Bostonians, took the wraps off a 14-foot tall memorial to the hundreds of people enslaved by its members and ministers over the church’s 339-year history.
The memorial is simple but powerful in concept: A larger-than-life bronze statue of a barefoot Black woman in 18th-century clothing letting four birds out of a cage, on top of a black granite, Neoclassical pedestal. It was unveiled in a ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 14.
The statue itself, titled “Unbound,” was created by Los Angeles-based sculptor Harmonia Rosales, while the pedestal and installation were designed by Boston-based architecture firm MASS Design Group. The memorial is accompanied by a plaque outside the church, which is a stop on Boston’s Freedom Trail thanks to its ties to historical figures like Senator Charles Sumner, President George Washington and patriot Paul Revere, and an informational display inside.
MASS Design Group also assisted the King’s Chapel congregation in an eight-year process coming to terms with the church’s connections to slavery and racial injustice. That process identified at least 219 people who had been enslaved by a King’s Chapel congregant or minister.
The design firm regularly works on public art projects, such as the famous “Embrace” memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King installed on Boston Common in 2023.
Mass Design Group Design Director Chris Scovel is the son of a former King’s Chapel minister. As part of Banker & Tradesman’s video series leading up to the 2025 American Institute of Architects convention, which visited Boston in May, he explained the history of the statue project and the architectural significance of King’s Chapel.
Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff
