Veneration, Remembrance, and Silencing

When the design and the location are read together, a different interpretation emerges, one that exhibits colonial undertones of ownership. The monument’s location, overlooking a view of the city, is critical to the message of the monument itself. The ‘father of Providence’ looks out over his domain from high ground, his arm outstretched in the direction of the rest of Providence. The colossal statue seems to lay claim to the territory, with everything in the statue’s sight line is his charge.

In many ways, the design itself idealizes Williams. Ralph Walker, the architect, said that he was inspired by the epithet of Williams as a pioneer. He describes the statue within the memorial as a “pioneer ready to go forward anew if necessary, sturdy and with a strength of purpose.”[4] Moreover, Walker deliberately chose the material, a “cold grey granite,” to signal “a serenity and a calm assurance of the justice in our belief in spiritual and mental freedom.”[5] Additionally, the statue’s outstretched gesture was purposeful, a nod to Williams’ legacy of religious involvement. Walker alludes to the religious symbolism in the figure itself: “the uplifted head, the resolute body, bespeak a spiritual force, the qualities of a man ‘called to God.’”[6] The sculptor of the statue, Leo Friedlander, did not elaborate on his artistic choices, believing that his “work is done.”[7] That said, he described the statue as his “earnest expression… to a ‘Prince of Tolerance’.”[8] The religious symbolism and physical rhetoric of this memorial cannot be understated. The statue’s pose is reminiscent of the Christian tradition of raising a hand in blessing: this gesture of ‘purifying’ is directly connected to the religious narrative associated with the colonization of Rhode Island.

Moreover, the location compounds the meaning and ascribed significance of the monument. By choosing a lot that looks out over the city as the location, the stakeholders further enforced the local pride of Williams as a hero: Providence’s glorious ‘founder’ is always watching over her. Munroe said that the statue is both “looking backward at the past and forward to the future.”[9] The location constructs the monument, and thus Williams, as a beacon of both continuity and change. The stakeholders of the memorial seemed eager to show how much Providence maintained Williams’ legacy while also relaying a narrative of progress. On the one hand, there is a desire to connect Williams to this exact place: Bishop Keough said that the memorial is “overlooking the scenes so familiar to [Williams].”[10] On the other hand, it shows how much the city has grown since its origin. Hazard said in his dedication address that “[Williams] could not have conceived the altered panorama which greets our eye today.”[11] In both of these explanations, the statue is “keeping eternal vigilance over the City and State that he founded three centuries ago.” [12]