As readers of Historista know, I have been arguing for a while now that the removal of white supremacist memorials provides us with unique opportunities to transform them into socially just and intellectually productive public sites. One of the ways to do this is to appropriate the sculptures themselves – or their . . .
Read MoreBy Matthew Christopher Hulbert For weeks now, marble and bronze likenesses of Robert E. Lee and his Confederate ilk have been – or are in the process of being – toppled from pedestals across the United States. In response, a number of the nation’s foremost historians of the Civil War and . . .
Read MoreIn the days and weeks after the neo-Nazi rally and attacks on anti-hate protestors in Charlottesville, individuals, communities, and local governments across the nation have used creative methods to respond to the monuments to white supremacy in their midst. Some of these acts were destructive and some were constructive. Almost all of . . .
Read MoreBy Gerard Fitzgerald Most nights I walk or jog 4-6 miles and my route takes me through the “Academical Village” at UVA. It is a beautiful and yet very conflicted historical space. Built in part by slaves, the design – and especially the neoclassical Rotunda – really can open the mind, . . .
Read More[Author’s note: an earlier version of this post referred to these objects as “Confederate memorials.” I have changed all references to them here to “White Supremacist memorials” or “memorials to White Supremacy” in order to highlight the origin of their creation, and the belief system underlying arguments for their continued existence in . . .
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