hey everybody
how’s it going today so I’m a public
historian and like most people I really
love to talk about the work that I do
even when they don’t really want to
listen one night at a dinner party a
friend of mine said hey Adam no matter
what we talk about tonight don’t bring
up those Confederate memorials a person
joining us is really sensitive about
that topic of course I introduced myself
I was very polite and I said hey did you
hear they took down Jefferson Davis last
night you should have seen my friend’s
face she reminded me a lot of Stephanie
tanner from full house and at that
moment I realized that monuments had
been shunned from the dinner table put
into the same box as politics and
religion one of those things you just
don’t talk about but the problem with
that is that communities must justify
the reverence or the removal of these
monuments to help with that I’ve
developed a conversational tool box the
first thing in this tool box is to
understand why we memorialize to begin
with but before we get there let’s talk
about memory each and every one of us
has individual memory it’s how you
experience your life it’s how you
remember people and places your memory
is unique to you but public memory is
how communities remember places and
people it’s how communities experience
growth you see monuments are built to
reflect the public memory of a specific
time and place they can be as enormous
as the 9/11 memorial
this serves a national audience for a
tragedy on a national scale each and
every one of you in here very likely
remembers exactly what you were doing
that day your memory your experience is
different from the person sitting next
to you but we all collectively share an
understanding about what happened and
its impact on American society on the
other hand monuments could be as small
and as localized as the boll weevil this
monument is located in enterprise
Alabama you see this town was devastated
by a swarm of boll weevils in the 1800s
and it destroyed their cotton crop this
required the community to change their
entire industry and to moralize that
innovation they built this monument in
the center of town so regardless on the
size or the significance of the event we
as communities remember a shared
understanding of events that happen in
our lifetimes so this brings us to the
next point that monuments have been
removed for just as long as they’ve been
built see the issue with public memory
is that it always changes because
communities are always changing people
move in and out generations have
different perspectives communities
change for all sorts of reasons maybe
it’s military victories this is the
destruction of the swastika at the Nazi
parade grounds toward the end of World
War two maybe it’s political change this
is the statue of Joseph Stalin after the
fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 how
about something like rebellion this is
the destruction of the King George
statue
New York City this is the American
Revolution we remove monuments because
they no longer represent our community’s
values this brings us to the next item
history is not taught at monuments one
of the biggest arguments that we see
today is that if we remove these
Confederate monuments if we will remove
any monuments
we’re erasing history this argument is
very complex and it’s it makes this
conversation very very difficult
so let’s critically analyze it and let
me ask you two questions first where do
you learn history here you would say
universities schools books films
documentaries and either museums if you
come and visit in general in general we
learn history from both formal and
informal educational settings our next
question is how do you remember history
here is where things like folklore and
traditions and street signs and even
monuments and memorials all reside let’s
be completely honest you cannot learn
all the complexities of the civil rights
movement by visiting the Martin Luther
King memorial you also can’t learn it by
walking down Martin Luther King Drive
these two things the monument and the
street name honored the man for his role
in the civil rights movement but it also
influences how you remember it this
brings us to the last and probably the
most critical point of this
conversational toolbox it’s the
importance of context
anytime we discuss context people very
often say hey let’s just change what the
monument says let’s just add some new
text to it that always doesn’t work
here’s an example this monument is
located in Colfax Louisiana and it
memorializes the massacre of 150 African
Americans during the 1872 gubernatorial
election the monument if you read it
it’s actually to the three white guys
that died and it hails them as heroes
fighting for white supremacy instead of
removing this monument the state of
Louisiana added this marker this marker
identifies the 150 Negroes who were
massacred and it calls the massacre of
victory that marked the end of carpetbag
misrule you see what the state tried to
do here is they tried to turn this
Monument this place of memory into a
place of learning but because this
language cannot be adjusted or changed
or adapted as the community around it
changes the marker becomes just as
offensive as the original Monument
whenever we’re discussing context it’s
not just about what’s written it’s also
the context of place
this statue is called Uncle Jack the
good darky he it was located in
Natchitoches Louisiana and it was cast
in 1927 and its inscription said that it
was to the arduous and faithful service
of the good darkies of Louisiana as you
can imagine by the 1960s this language
was wildly offensive eventually the
monument was removed and it was donated
to the rural life museum in Baton Rouge
Louisiana today this monument is used to
teach visitors museum visitors about
preindustrial Louisiana Society now just
moving something to a museum doesn’t
solve all the problems but it certainly
is a step in the right direction so
let’s revisit our toolbox you now have
all of the tools necessary to have a
successful conversation about monuments
and memorials but how do you know when
to pull it out of your tool shed how do
you know when to open it up how do
communities decide what is appropriate
to answer that question let’s go back to
New Orleans for just one minute in 2017
the city removed four Confederate
memorials one that they left was Andrew
Jackson now Jackson is not a Confederate
but he was a slave owner but the city of
New Orleans does not remember him for
that the New Orleans community remembers
him for his role as the savior of the
city in the Battle of New Orleans at the
end of the war of 1812 this is the same
man that also killed tens of thousands
of Native Americans across the
southeastern parts of the United States
so putting up a monument to Andrew
Jackson in those Creek and Seminole
communities in southern Alabama and
Florida would be pretty inappropriate
downright offensive
but some people have said that if we
allow these Confederate monuments to be
removed then George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson they’re sure to be next
yeah they were slave owners but again
that’s not how the national community
remembers them we remember them for
their role as founding fathers if you
think your community just simply can’t
have this conversation I’m gonna argue
that you’re wrong
every single community is going to have
to have this conversation whether it’s
about Confederate generals or founding
fathers or the boll weevil luckily for
my friend the conversation that I
started at dinner stayed very civil very
cordial I promise and but we enjoyed the
safe
privacy of someone’s dining room to have
this very difficult conversation but for
those of us who live and work among
these monuments this topic is too
important to ignore we must engage in
these conversations because it’s our job
as a society to constantly reevaluate
what we Mase find appropriate
inappropriate or downright wrong or even
inaccurate
Confederate monuments are difficult to
talk about but armed with this toolbox I
believe that we can all agree that
monuments in our communities should
reflect the values and the memory in
which they exist
how’s it going today so I’m a public
historian and like most people I really
love to talk about the work that I do
even when they don’t really want to
listen one night at a dinner party a
friend of mine said hey Adam no matter
what we talk about tonight don’t bring
up those Confederate memorials a person
joining us is really sensitive about
that topic of course I introduced myself
I was very polite and I said hey did you
hear they took down Jefferson Davis last
night you should have seen my friend’s
face she reminded me a lot of Stephanie
tanner from full house and at that
moment I realized that monuments had
been shunned from the dinner table put
into the same box as politics and
religion one of those things you just
don’t talk about but the problem with
that is that communities must justify
the reverence or the removal of these
monuments to help with that I’ve
developed a conversational tool box the
first thing in this tool box is to
understand why we memorialize to begin
with but before we get there let’s talk
about memory each and every one of us
has individual memory it’s how you
experience your life it’s how you
remember people and places your memory
is unique to you but public memory is
how communities remember places and
people it’s how communities experience
growth you see monuments are built to
reflect the public memory of a specific
time and place they can be as enormous
as the 9/11 memorial
this serves a national audience for a
tragedy on a national scale each and
every one of you in here very likely
remembers exactly what you were doing
that day your memory your experience is
different from the person sitting next
to you but we all collectively share an
understanding about what happened and
its impact on American society on the
other hand monuments could be as small
and as localized as the boll weevil this
monument is located in enterprise
Alabama you see this town was devastated
by a swarm of boll weevils in the 1800s
and it destroyed their cotton crop this
required the community to change their
entire industry and to moralize that
innovation they built this monument in
the center of town so regardless on the
size or the significance of the event we
as communities remember a shared
understanding of events that happen in
our lifetimes so this brings us to the
next point that monuments have been
removed for just as long as they’ve been
built see the issue with public memory
is that it always changes because
communities are always changing people
move in and out generations have
different perspectives communities
change for all sorts of reasons maybe
it’s military victories this is the
destruction of the swastika at the Nazi
parade grounds toward the end of World
War two maybe it’s political change this
is the statue of Joseph Stalin after the
fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 how
about something like rebellion this is
the destruction of the King George
statue
New York City this is the American
Revolution we remove monuments because
they no longer represent our community’s
values this brings us to the next item
history is not taught at monuments one
of the biggest arguments that we see
today is that if we remove these
Confederate monuments if we will remove
any monuments
we’re erasing history this argument is
very complex and it’s it makes this
conversation very very difficult
so let’s critically analyze it and let
me ask you two questions first where do
you learn history here you would say
universities schools books films
documentaries and either museums if you
come and visit in general in general we
learn history from both formal and
informal educational settings our next
question is how do you remember history
here is where things like folklore and
traditions and street signs and even
monuments and memorials all reside let’s
be completely honest you cannot learn
all the complexities of the civil rights
movement by visiting the Martin Luther
King memorial you also can’t learn it by
walking down Martin Luther King Drive
these two things the monument and the
street name honored the man for his role
in the civil rights movement but it also
influences how you remember it this
brings us to the last and probably the
most critical point of this
conversational toolbox it’s the
importance of context
anytime we discuss context people very
often say hey let’s just change what the
monument says let’s just add some new
text to it that always doesn’t work
here’s an example this monument is
located in Colfax Louisiana and it
memorializes the massacre of 150 African
Americans during the 1872 gubernatorial
election the monument if you read it
it’s actually to the three white guys
that died and it hails them as heroes
fighting for white supremacy instead of
removing this monument the state of
Louisiana added this marker this marker
identifies the 150 Negroes who were
massacred and it calls the massacre of
victory that marked the end of carpetbag
misrule you see what the state tried to
do here is they tried to turn this
Monument this place of memory into a
place of learning but because this
language cannot be adjusted or changed
or adapted as the community around it
changes the marker becomes just as
offensive as the original Monument
whenever we’re discussing context it’s
not just about what’s written it’s also
the context of place
this statue is called Uncle Jack the
good darky he it was located in
Natchitoches Louisiana and it was cast
in 1927 and its inscription said that it
was to the arduous and faithful service
of the good darkies of Louisiana as you
can imagine by the 1960s this language
was wildly offensive eventually the
monument was removed and it was donated
to the rural life museum in Baton Rouge
Louisiana today this monument is used to
teach visitors museum visitors about
preindustrial Louisiana Society now just
moving something to a museum doesn’t
solve all the problems but it certainly
is a step in the right direction so
let’s revisit our toolbox you now have
all of the tools necessary to have a
successful conversation about monuments
and memorials but how do you know when
to pull it out of your tool shed how do
you know when to open it up how do
communities decide what is appropriate
to answer that question let’s go back to
New Orleans for just one minute in 2017
the city removed four Confederate
memorials one that they left was Andrew
Jackson now Jackson is not a Confederate
but he was a slave owner but the city of
New Orleans does not remember him for
that the New Orleans community remembers
him for his role as the savior of the
city in the Battle of New Orleans at the
end of the war of 1812 this is the same
man that also killed tens of thousands
of Native Americans across the
southeastern parts of the United States
so putting up a monument to Andrew
Jackson in those Creek and Seminole
communities in southern Alabama and
Florida would be pretty inappropriate
downright offensive
but some people have said that if we
allow these Confederate monuments to be
removed then George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson they’re sure to be next
yeah they were slave owners but again
that’s not how the national community
remembers them we remember them for
their role as founding fathers if you
think your community just simply can’t
have this conversation I’m gonna argue
that you’re wrong
every single community is going to have
to have this conversation whether it’s
about Confederate generals or founding
fathers or the boll weevil luckily for
my friend the conversation that I
started at dinner stayed very civil very
cordial I promise and but we enjoyed the
safe
privacy of someone’s dining room to have
this very difficult conversation but for
those of us who live and work among
these monuments this topic is too
important to ignore we must engage in
these conversations because it’s our job
as a society to constantly reevaluate
what we Mase find appropriate
inappropriate or downright wrong or even
inaccurate
Confederate monuments are difficult to
talk about but armed with this toolbox I
believe that we can all agree that
monuments in our communities should
reflect the values and the memory in
which they exist
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