Plans for a memorial to Holiday in Baltimore began in 1971; a drug treatment centre and statue were envisioned, but only the statue was eventually built. The statue was part of the planned urban renewal of the surrounding area of Upton.^[2] The Royal Theatre, where Holiday performed, originally stood diagonally opposite the statue.^[1] Holiday was raised in Baltimore.^[2]

The sculptor James Earl Reid was commissioned to design the monument to Holiday in 1977.^[2] Disputes over the rising costs of the work led to Reid eventually distancing himself from the piece. Reid had also intended that the statue be placed on a 6-foot (1.8 m) pedestal.^[2] It was finally unveiled in 1985, without Reid in attendance at the ceremony.^[2] The sculpture cost $113,000 (equivalent to $320,120 in 2023).^[2] The statue of Holiday is 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) in height.^[2] Holiday is depicted in a strapless evening gown wearing her signature gardenias in her braided hair.^[1] The sculpture was completed in 2009 with the addition of bronze relief panels depicting events in the African-American struggle for civil rights.^[1] These panels had been rejected as too controversial at the time of the statue's unveiling in 1985, and their creation had been approved with additional funding of $76,000 in 2007.^[1] The statue was rededicated in 2009 with a base of granite. At its 2009 unveiling Reid said that "[Holiday] gave such a rich credibility to the experiences of black people and the black artist".^[2]

One of the panels depicts a child with its umbilical cord attached, in reference to the lyrics of Holiday's song "God Bless the Child". A second panel depicts the lynching of an African-American man in reference to the 'strange fruit hanging from strange trees' in the lyrics of Holiday's signature song "Strange Fruit".^[1] In reference to the Jim Crow laws, a crow is depicted eating a gardenia. It is situated behind Holiday, and above Reid's signature.^[1][3]