Mobs have declared open season on every aspect of American’s history. Confederates and abolitionists, Christopher Columbus, Founding Fathers, and the occasional saint are being erased from memory. What an opportunity!
This is the perfect time to deepen our understanding of the country’s history by erecting a bunch of new statues while creating a context to preserve the old ones. The jihad against historic statues suggests that Americans need some lessons in history that our educational system failed to teach them.
For starters, correcting the way we memorialize the Civil War is long overdue. Most of the Confederate statuary is the result of the “Lost Cause” propaganda campaign, which successfully whitewashed the South until well into the 20th century and perpetrated historical inacccuracy. So there’s a massive bas-relief in Atlanta of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson — who never set foot in Georgia during the Civil War — instead of John Bell Hood, who actually lost the Battle of Atlanta. And then there’s Gone With The Wind. We know better now, thanks to a growing body of historical work such as the Ken Burns TV series. But the statues remain, frozen in time.
Communities erect monuments to reflect the sentiment of their citizens. It made sense to put Confederate statues in the courthouse squares of Southern towns when the families of Civil War veterans were still alive, but those communities moved on decades ago. So it’s time to move statues and monuments that reflect local history (rather than a transplanted Lee or Jackson) to a less prominent location and erect a statue of a more contemporary hero in the middle of town.
The Civil War demands more context. We need more statues of Ulysses S. Grant to correct decades of disparagement while the Lost Cause deified Lee. How about a statue of Lee surrrendering to Grant at Appomatox? We need more statues of William Tecumseh Sherman (perhaps ordering the return of Navajos to their homeland in 1868 rather than burning Georgia in 1864). Perhaps the Emancipation Memorial in Washington can be expanded with a freed slave standing tall and a statue of Frederick Douglass nearby.
Nor should we erase the Confederates. Let’s move their statues to historical parks with explanatory plaques that will more fully explain who they were, what they did and why. Include guys like Patrick Cleburne, the general who was passed over for promotion when he advocated for freeing the slaves and enlisting them in the Confederate army.
Let’s expand the pantheon of heroes by adding statues of forgotten ancients and more contemporary heroes. There is room to enhance Revolutionary War history with statues of some of the African-Americans who participated, for example. Practically every town in America boasts a 20th Century scientist, builder, astronaut, civil rights leader or Medal of Honor recipient who merits a statue in front of City Hall.
President Trump missed an opportunity to add to the celebration of history when he spoke about the Presidents on Mount Rushmore but failed to mention the Crazy Horse Memorial a few miles away.
There’s an even bigger opportunity for state and local leaders. Instead of just eliminating statues in deference to the mob, mayors and governors have an opportunity to re-evaluate how best to memorialize history now that people are paying attention. Set up an orderly, democratic process for creating new statues and relocating old ones. Appoint a commission. Hold a referendum. Do New Orleans residents really want to take down the statue of Andrew Jackson? Put it on the ballot. Set up a sculpture competition. Re-define a more inclusive sense of civic pride.
So far nobody is doing this. Elected officials are being intimidated into subtracting history and removing statues without the consent of their citizens. This is an opportunity for them to lead (instead of pandering) and reassure their constituents that the voters, and not the mob, are still in charge of our history. Will they?
Time for more statues
Mobs have declared open season on every aspect of American’s history. Confederates and abolitionists, Christopher Columbus, Founding Fathers, and the occasional saint are being erased from memory. What an opportunity!
This is the perfect time to deepen our understanding of the country’s history by erecting a bunch of new statues while creating a context to preserve the old ones. The jihad against historic statues suggests that Americans need some lessons in history that our educational system failed to teach them.
For starters, correcting the way we memorialize the Civil War is long overdue. Most of the Confederate statuary is the result of the “Lost Cause” propaganda campaign, which successfully whitewashed the South until well into the 20th century and perpetrated historical inacccuracy. So there’s a massive bas-relief in Atlanta of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson — who never set foot in Georgia during the Civil War — instead of John Bell Hood, who actually lost the Battle of Atlanta. And then there’s Gone With The Wind. We know better now, thanks to a growing body of historical work such as the Ken Burns TV series. But the statues remain, frozen in time.
Communities erect monuments to reflect the sentiment of their citizens. It made sense to put Confederate statues in the courthouse squares of Southern towns when the families of Civil War veterans were still alive, but those communities moved on decades ago. So it’s time to move statues and monuments that reflect local history (rather than a transplanted Lee or Jackson) to a less prominent location and erect a statue of a more contemporary hero in the middle of town.
The Civil War demands more context. We need more statues of Ulysses S. Grant to correct decades of disparagement while the Lost Cause deified Lee. How about a statue of Lee surrrendering to Grant at Appomatox? We need more statues of William Tecumseh Sherman (perhaps ordering the return of Navajos to their homeland in 1868 rather than burning Georgia in 1864). Perhaps the Emancipation Memorial in Washington can be expanded with a freed slave standing tall and a statue of Frederick Douglass nearby.
Nor should we erase the Confederates. Let’s move their statues to historical parks with explanatory plaques that will more fully explain who they were, what they did and why. Include guys like Patrick Cleburne, the general who was passed over for promotion when he advocated for freeing the slaves and enlisting them in the Confederate army.
Let’s expand the pantheon of heroes by adding statues of forgotten ancients and more contemporary heroes. There is room to enhance Revolutionary War history with statues of some of the African-Americans who participated, for example. Practically every town in America boasts a 20th Century scientist, builder, astronaut, civil rights leader or Medal of Honor recipient who merits a statue in front of City Hall.
President Trump missed an opportunity to add to the celebration of history when he spoke about the Presidents on Mount Rushmore but failed to mention the Crazy Horse Memorial a few miles away.
There’s an even bigger opportunity for state and local leaders. Instead of just eliminating statues in deference to the mob, mayors and governors have an opportunity to re-evaluate how best to memorialize history now that people are paying attention. Set up an orderly, democratic process for creating new statues and relocating old ones. Appoint a commission. Hold a referendum. Do New Orleans residents really want to take down the statue of Andrew Jackson? Put it on the ballot. Set up a sculpture competition. Re-define a more inclusive sense of civic pride.
So far nobody is doing this. Elected officials are being intimidated into subtracting history and removing statues without the consent of their citizens. This is an opportunity for them to lead (instead of pandering) and reassure their constituents that the voters, and not the mob, are still in charge of our history. Will they?
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