The first comprehensive survey of America’s public monuments 'shows just how many Americans don't see themselves reflected in public art'
Joan of Arc is more popular than Alexander Hamilton. Saint Francis of Assisi edges out Robert E. Lee. And there are 11 times more mermaids than congresswomen. These are some of the more surprising findings of the first comprehensive survey of America’s public monuments, the results of which were released today.
Abraham Lincoln tops the list of individuals celebrated in public monuments in the United States—a total of nearly 200—with George Washington a close second and Christopher Columbus a more distant third. Less predictably, Casimir Pulaski, a Polish cavalry officer in the Revolutionary War, beat out Thomas Jefferson with 51 memorials to the three dozen dedicated to the author of the Declaration of Independence.
The audit also discovered that American memorials reflect a national focus on violent events. Fully a third commemorate war. For example, while nearly 6,000 reference the Civil War, only nine mention the era of Reconstruction that followed. The study also found that memory of past violence is skewed: Not a single monument recalls any of the 34 massacres of Black Americans recorded during that tumultuous post-war period.
Several historians praised the study for shedding light on a national debate that has generated a lot of heat. “The audit shows just how many Americans don't see themselves reflected in public art,” said. “Monuments are supposed to inspire us all, so what does it mean when our monuments make it seem like only wealthy white men are deserving of honor?”, a Black public historian in Richmond, said the study’s emphasis on “the need for more expansive stories resonates with me.
Thompson estimates that some 170 monuments—less than half of one percent— were dismantled in the wake of Floyd’s death. More than 80 percent of those were removed as the result of decisions by municipalities, while the remainder were toppled by demonstrators. The vast majority were memorials to Confederate leaders or increasingly divisive figures like Columbus.
S. Waite Rawls, retired head of the Museum of the Confederacy and the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, decried the removal of monuments, including one in Richmond to the soldiers and sailors of the rebel cause. “These were guys who typically got drafted, and they should be honored,” he said. “It is like tearing down the Vietnam War memorial.”
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