Philip Reed (sculptor)

Philip Reed, known as Philip Reid before he was emancipated ( – February 6, 1892), was an African American master craftsman who worked at the foundries of self-taught sculptor Clark Mills. There, historical monuments such as the 1853 ''equestrian statue'' of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, near the White House in Washington, D.C., the 1860 equestrian statue of George Washington in Washington Circle, and the 1863 ''Statue of Freedom'' in Washington, D.C., were created.

He was born in c. 1820 into slavery in South Carolina's historic city of Charleston. Reed began working as an enslaved apprentice to Mills in 1842, as a young man in his twenties, who was already recognized for his talents in the foundry industry.

Reed was emancipated on April 16, 1862, under the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. After his emancipation, he assisted Mills in installing the ''Statue of Freedom'' atop the United States Capitol, which was completed on December 2, 1863. In the 1860s, after having worked at the foundry for almost two decades, Reed's skills in working with bronze casting were recognized. In 1928, Tennessee Representative Finis J. Garrett presented a paper honoring Reed for his "faithful service and genius", and describing the key role he had played in casting the statue of Freedom, that is now part of the Congressional Record. Provided by Wikipedia