From the WGBH Forum Network: "Several women from Salem promoted abolition by leading efforts to obtain freedom, rights, and material well-being for African-American. Art historian Abaigeal Duda discusses how this inter-racial progress culminated in a movement that writer and artist Lucy Cleveland (1780-1866) concisely captured with the pronouncement Free! Part of Peabody Essex Museum's permanent collection, Free! Cleveland's textile sculpture depicts a smiling figure holding forth the proclamation of freedom. It was likely created in 1863 following Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.This program is made possible with support from the Lowell Institute."