By Tom Musgrave
Members of the Lexington Freedom Train committee, including UK faculty Frank X Walker, Vanessa Holden and Gary Bibbs, stand with Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton and sculptor Basil Watson. Photo by Jenny Wells-Hosley.LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 20, 2025) — When Georgia-based artist Basil Watson submitted his proposal for the Lexington Freedom Train monument, he said he saw an opportunity to highlight an important story.
“A lot of Black stories have not been told, and I am a part of that community that has been denied the recognition,” he said. “So, this meant another opportunity for me to get involved in telling a Black story. Those are not the only stories to be told, but they are important stories that need to be told now.”
He was there June 19, when the monument — a sculpture depicting abolitionists Lewis and Harriet Hayden,