The detail that grounded this for me: Douglass arrived in New Bedford in 1838 and found work as a caulker at the docks. Not as a speaker or activist yet. Just a skilled worker getting honest wages for the first time in his life. The city's specific combination of abolitionism and maritime economy made that possible at that exact moment in history.

That overlap is what made New Bedford the landing spot rather than just geography. Makes the choice of where to put the sculptures feel right.