Race and Public Memorialization
July 21, 2020
Ken Burns and James Baldwin
"The Mythology of Monuments"
(5:59)
To set the stage for our conversation, listen to James Baldwin speaking with Ken Burns about monuments and myth.
The recent Boston Globe article, Weighing the Fate of our Most Problematic Art, provides an excellent overview of what we hope to discuss in this conversation. While Confederate memorials must be addressed, there are also similar, but perhaps more subtle, issues closer to home.
Link directly to the article here or open the PDF below.
Weighing the fate of our most problematic public art - The Boston Globe.pdfThe article points out that "Even the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial, that treasured bronze relief on Boston Common by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, has drawn scrutiny..."
The story of one statue...
The American Museum of Natural History created this video in 2019 as discussions were ongoing to determine the fate of the imposing memorial to Theodore Roosevelt that stands at the museum's entrance. (15:56)
The video was part of the museum's exhibit about the Teddy Roosevelt statue. Called "Addressing the Statue," the exhibit provided context about the history and rationale for the sculpture. A portion of the exhibit, "What did the artists and planners intend?" may be accessed here.
On June 21, 2020, a decision was made to remove the statue. The article above (The New Yorker, July 1, 2020) addresses the decision. Embedded within the article, is a short video, Unearthing Black History at the Freedom Lots (5:38), that presents a small, but not less important, way to memorialize.
A few of Boston's monuments...
The Emancipation Group, located in Park Square, Boston, is a replica of a statue in Washington D.C. by Charlestown-born 19th-century sculptor Thomas Ball.
Click on the photograph and listen to local artist Tory Bullock explain why he feels the statue must go. His petition garnered more than 12,000 signatures.
When the decision was made to remove the statue, Bullock said that that he was "beyond happy" about the decision and the way both the city and activists came to it.
"Process is important and Boston created a process for the rest of the country to use as a blueprint ... I’m proud of my city today. This shows that you can get mad, get creative, and get results without anyone or anything being in danger.”
Decision made on June 30, 2020 (here).
Boston to remove controversial monument...ng over freed slave - The Boston Globe.pdfUPDATE!
From the New York Times, December 29, 2020, Boston's Emancipation Group was removed. It had been standing since 1879.
Access the Times article at the right or view the PDF below.
Boston Removes Statue of Formerly Enslaved Man Kneeling Before Lincoln - The New York Times.pdf
This Smithsonian Magazine article (June 30, 2020) provides more context about the original statue in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C. Early concerns resulted in design changes even before the statue's completion and a letter from Frederick Douglass to the National Republican newspaper, written shortly after the dedication ceremony, suggests the statue's appropriate interpretation and the need for additional statues.
and the majestic Appeal to the Great Spirit at the MFA
...and then there is this recent essay posted on the MFA website raising concerns about its Appeal to the Great Spirit sculpture and how it is viewed and interpreted. (click here to access)
Similar conversations are going on around the country. This is an interesting one.
The July 2 episode of The New York Times podcast, The Argument, features Jamelle Bouie, along with Michelle Goldberg and Ross Douthat, addressing topics that relate to both our June 9 meeting and our current conversation about memorialization (beginning around 18:30).
Initially they discuss ongoing protests and whether we are seeing something revolutionary or merely an "intra-elite fight". Then their focus shifts to questions about public memorialization including the slippery slope argument and what should be memorialized.
Click on Our Picks for two excellent books that, along with many other amazing attributes, also highlight public memorialization.
Additional Context and Related Material
With a focus on monuments to the Confederacy
Trymaine Lee and Caroline Randall Williams join Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss their reactions to the debate over Confederate monuments featured in Trymaine Lee’s documentary "Stone Ghosts in the South: America's Legacy of Heritage and Hate" and how America continues to reckon with its history of slavery and racism. Aired on 7/10/2020. (8:20)
You can watch the entire documentary (27:21) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msIDM8MyGqg. It is well worth watching!
Click on Black Voices to read Caroline Randall Williams' recent article You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body is a Confederate Monument.
Data in the FiveThirtyEight article above comes primarily from the Southern Poverty Law Center's 2016 report, Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy, which can be viewed at https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/com_whose_heritage.pdf and its 2019 updated version (@ https://www.splcenter.org/20190201/whose-heritage-public-symbols-confederacy)
"Voters support 52 - 44 percent removing Confederate statues from public spaces around the country. That is a 19-point swing in the gap of support since an August 23, 2017 poll when 39 percent supported the removal of Confederate statues and 50 percent opposed."
"As for renaming military bases that were named after Confederate generals, voters are split 47 - 47 percent."
Quinnipiac University Poll June 17, 2020
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
An Atlantic article ( June 9, 2020) by David Petraeus.
Take the Confederate Names Off Our Army Bases - The Atlantic.pdfNew Works of Public Memorialization
Artist Kehinde Wiley, known best for having painted Barack Obama's official portrait, creates a new work to stand in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, directly across the street from the headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, brought America’s history of segregation and racial terror to the forefront with the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.
In the December 24, 2019, issue of the New Yorker, Kehinde Wiley discusses his unique contribution to the conversation, and seems "to endorse the approach of building new statues rather than removing old ones. “I say don’t tear down the house, even though it’s ridiculous, even though all this chest-beating is symptomatic of a broader illness. We can compose poetry of broken bones.” (click here)
Kehinde Wiley’s Anti-Confederate Memorial _ The New Yorker.pdfAfter World War II, Germany and the Allied powers took pains to make sure that its citizens would never forget the country’s dark history. But in America, much of our past remains hidden or rewritten.
In this June 1, 2018 (rebroadcast July 3, 2020) episode of On the Media, Brooke Gladstone visits Montgomery, Alabama, and, in the first of three segments, talks with Bryan Stevenson and historian Sir Richard Evans about the denazification process in Germany after World War II (15:10). In the other segments, Stevenson and Gladstone visit the The Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice (18:33; 16:07).
A few more issues at the last minute...
What's going on?
"A statue of the Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass was detached from its base in a park in Rochester, N.Y., this month and found some 50 feet away, dumped near a river gorge. And last month in Madison, Wis., protesters toppled a statue of Hans Christian Heg, a white abolitionist who fought against the Confederacy."
Access article directly by clicking here or read the PDF below:
Someone Tore Down a Union Army Statue i...oga Springs. Why_ - The New York Times.pdfHow much difference does tearing down monuments really make?
Access article directly by clicking here or read the PDF below:
Statues vs. systemic change_ How much o...uments really make_ - The Boston Globe.pdfExcellent article by David Blight, along with a series of Princeton University articles, shared by Mary Haskell.
David Blight writes on "how America reimagines its memorial landscape" in this July 17, 2020, New York Times piece, "There's a Chance to Tell a New American Story. Biden Should Seize It." Click here to link directly or read the PDF below:
Opinion _ How Joe Biden Can Address the Monuments Issue - The New York Times.pdfSeries of articles from Princeton University with the lead, "University Dedicates Marker Addressing the Complex Legacy of Woodrow Wilson," describing an attempt in 2019 to contextualize using a 39-foot marker designed by Walter Hood. The article is followed by links to a number of related pieces titled "Reflections on Racial Justice and Woodrow Wilson."
An unexpected find ...
From the Austin Monthly, July 23, 2020, "Why This Hill Country Monument is the Perfect Civil War Tribute."
In Comfort, Texas ( pop. 2,363), located southwest of Austin, stands the Treue der Union ("Loyalty to the Union") - a dedication to Texas Unionists killed during the Civil War. Erected in 1866.
Great bit of information included in the article: Describing the decision in Texas to join the Confederacy, "One notable holdout was Governor Sam Houston, who said Jefferson Davis was “as ambitious as Lucifer and cold as a lizard” before resigning in protest. Many Hill Country residents (in addition to the one-third of Texans held in slavery at the time) followed Houston’s lead and remained loyal to the United States: Records show that as much as 96 percent of Gillespie County—where Fredericksburg is located—voted to stay in the Union." Who knew?
