Construction of the statue was completed on 22 September 1967 by Albert Mangonès. It measures at 3.60 metres long by 2.40 metres high. The bust depicts a bronze near-naked fugitive, kneeling on one knee, torso arched, opposite leg stretched back, a broken chain at its left ankle, while holding a conch shell at its lips with its left hand, head tilted upward, while the other hand holds a machete at the ground to its right ankle.

Mangonès chose to use a passage from 1 Maccabees 14:3-9 of the Jerusalem Bible in the background of his sculpture on one of the two concrete panels that protect the "eternal flame" of freedom on the square surrounding the statue set in copper letters.

In 1989, the United Nations adopted the statue as a central icon on postage stamps commemorating Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states, "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."