Base of Jennie Dean statue installed in Manassas

As many confederate statues are being taken down in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, a statue of the former slave Jennie Dean will be built to honor her efforts that helped African Americans in the late 1800s.

On July 3, a crew from Kline Memorials arrived on the grounds of the Jennie Dean Memorial, at 9601 Prince William Street in Manassas, the future location of the statue to install a granite base for the statue.

The effort to erect the statue has been a 20-year undertaking. According to the Jeannie Dean Masterplan Update on the Manassas City website, the original plan for completion was supposed by the fall of 2019 if fundraising hit its goal before that date. But as donations are still needed, the completion of the project is further delayed until the donation goal is met. If interested in donating, please visit this link to contribute today to the project.

According to Manassas City article on “Who Was Jennie Dean?”, Jennie Dean was an inspirational woman of color who spent her early days as a slave. After the civil war, she helped train her people’s life skills and helped build churches that provided a safe community for African Americans to learn and thrive.

After raising money for decades, she managed to get Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth chartered and built. The school was eventually taken down, built again with new schools, that was renamed several times before leaving to what we know today as Jennie Dean Elementary School.

The planned statue has been over 20 years in the making. We previously reported in January of this year, that the campaign has reached over 73% of its donation goals as the sculptor, Chris Hill got to work on the bronze statue.

The project has increased its project total from needing $175,000 to now $350,000 as installation and enhanced landscaping charges, including connecting walking paths, adding a kiosk, amphitheater, and signage has been added.  We have reported in the past that Manassas Councilwoman Michelle Davis-Younger stated that the city has donated over $125,000 to the campaign.

According to the Manassas City Memorial Campaign page, a generous donation from Corliss Udoema, who is the owner of Contract Solutions Inc., donated $10,000 to support the cause. According to Prince, the total amount of money raised for this project by stated above donors and anonymous community members is $149,000.