Talk: On the (Re)moving of African American Monuments: Changing Places, Changing Meanings

Join us for the University of Memphis Hohenberg Chair of Excellence in Art History reception and talk, led by Ellen Daughtery.  Speakers at monument dedications often declare the permanent nature of the statue being unveiled. Insistent language—imperishable, enduring, everlasting, undying, immortal, timeless—serves to underscore the idea that the monument and its site, and consequently the values they embody, are correct, indisputable, and unchanging. Yet, contrary to these assertions, monuments can be moved, and their messages can be revised. This lecture considers examples of monuments dedicated to African American themes have been physically re-sited, sometimes multiple times, in efforts to revise, rehabilitate, recontextualize, or reject their original meanings. Free.