Freedom's Stand by artist, educator, curator, and community facilitator Faheem Majeed, is one of the latest installations on NYC's High Line, the 1.45-mile-long elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail and only park in NYC with a dedicated multimedia contemporary art program. High Line Art commissions and produces world-class art projects on and around the High Line, sparking the dialogue that is an essential element of city life.

Freedom’s Stand is an homage to the role of Black newspapers in the U.S. and is named after Freedom’s Journal, the first Black-owned-and-operated newspaper in New York City, founded in 1827, which offered a counter-narrative to newspapers that attacked African Americans and encouraged slavery. The 15-foot structure draws inspiration from other influential community driven work like Chicago’s Wall of Respect and the Community Mural Movement.

Faheem Majeed received the MacArthur and Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago Award in 2020, and is currently the co-director of the Floating Museum, a Chicago collective that brings art to neighborhoods, and was chosen to direct the 2023 Chicago Architectural Biennial. 

Freedom’s Stand, on the High Line at 30th Street, will be on display from September 22, 2022-August 2023, and will showcase a monthly rotation of headlines, articles, photographs, and advertisements from historical and contemporary Black newspapers, such as the Chicago Defender from Chicago, IL and the Nubian News from Trenton, NJ. Read more

Updated July 26, 2023: 

The Freedom’s Stand was scheduled to be on display through August 2023, and has now been extended through November 2023.