via email from the NYT (hey, it's free "content"! :) - JB)
[JB comment: Donald Trump need not worry about his standing in history. It is highly dubious that any kind of statue/memorial will be constructed in his honor -- except, possibly, a wall between TrumpmakeAmerikagreatagainfantasyland ... tweettweettweet and the United States's southern neighbor and essential trading/cultural partner, Mexico.]
Confederate general Robert E. Lee has been a clear target of protesters who want to take down monuments linked to America’s history of white supremacy. Christopher Columbus has a more ambiguous legacy.
How do we assess the contributions of — and memorials to — people who did great things, but terrible ones, too? Is there a difference between famous men guilty of injustice and those whose fame was inseparable from it?
Here are some of the men and monuments that have come up for debate. In some cases it's entire careers being reconsidered, while in others it's the specific statue, or its location, that has drawn criticism. It's not easy to draw the line between what should remain and what should come down, but help us out.
1 of 16
Christopher Columbus, explorer (1451-1506)
He was among the first European explorers to reach the Americas. Critics point to his role igniting the colonization of America, the spread of deadly European diseases and the start of the transatlantic slave trade.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
2 of 16
Ulysses S. Grant, general and U.S. president (1822-1885)
Led the Union Army in the Civil War. He has been accused of anti-Semitism over a Civil War-era order, for which he later repented, expelling “Jews and other unprincipled traders” from parts of the South.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
3 of 16
Joe Paterno, college football coach (1926-2012)
The highly successful longtime head coach of Penn State's football team. He was tarnished by a child sex abuse scandal involving a member of his coaching staff. His statue was taken down as a result in 2012, but former players have also asked to restore it.
Was it right to take it down?
Yes.
No.
4 of 16
Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia mayor and police commissioner (1920-1991)
A charismatic, tough-talking politician and self-made man. His aggressive police tactics and law-and-order politics antagonized Philadelphia’s black community.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
5 of 16
Robert E. Lee, Confederate general (1807-1870)
Led the Confederate Army during the Civil War. A slaveholder, he symbolizes to many the white supremacy and institution of slavery the South sought to defend.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
6 of 16
Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general (1821-1877)
On the battlefield, he was considered a great tactician. A slaveholder and slave trader before the war, Forrest became an early member of the KKK after it ended.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
7 of 16
Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy (1808-1889)
Davis was a U.S. representative and a senator before the Civil War. Opponents say his legacy, like those of Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest, is inseparable from the institution of slavery.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
8 of 16
Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president (1858-1919)
He helped establish the U.S. as a world power and was an early proponent of conservation. Indigenous activists and artists have called an equestrian statue of him flanked by an African and a Native American a “stark embodiment of the white supremacy that Roosevelt himself espoused and promoted.”
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
9 of 16
George Washington, founding father, first U.S. president (1732-1799)
Commander of the Continental Army and a towering figure in American history. As President Trump has pointed out, he owned slaves, too.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
10 of 16
Andrew Jackson, U.S. president (1767-1845)
War hero and seventh U.S. president. Jackson was also a slaveholder and infamous for his role in the forced relocation of Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
11 of 16
J. Marion Sims, pioneering doctor (1813-1883)
Considered the “father of modern gynecology,” he pioneered surgical techniques for major complications in childbirth. Sims experimented on slave women in developing his advances.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
12 of 16
Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1777-1864)
Also a U.S. attorney general and secretary of the treasury before joining the Supreme Court, he is remembered for writing the 1857 Dred Scott decision ruling that blacks could never be American citizens. Legal scholars consider that decision to be one of the worst in the court's history.
Was it right to take it down?
Yes.
No.
13 of 16
‘Silent Sam,’ Confederate soldier
This statue on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill is one of many throughout the South that memorialize not Civil War generals, but the anonymous individual men who also fought and died. Critics say such statues perpetuate the “Lost Cause” revisionist history of the Civil War that argues that Southerners sought to defend their homes and way of life from Northern aggression.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
14 of 16
Stephen Foster, songwriter (1826-1864)
Among Foster’s most famous songs are “Oh! Sussana,” “My Old Kentucky Home” and “Camptown Races.” Critics object to a memorial near the campus of the University of Pittsburgh that portrays Foster with a strumming slave sitting at his feet.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
15 of 16
Strom Thurmond, U.S. senator (1902-2003)
A long-serving U.S. senator from South Carolina. A staunch supporter of segregation until the 1970s, Thurmond secretly fathered a child with a black woman.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
16 of 16
William McKinley, U.S. president (1843-1901)
McKinley was the 25th president of the United States, assassinated shortly into his second term. During his tenure, the U.S. took control of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines as a result of the Spanish-American War and strengthened its grip on the Hawaiian islands. Native Hawaiians at the time considered the move illegal, and protesters in the state today view McKinley as a symbol of imperialism.
Take it down?
Yes.
No.
Here’s the percentage of readers who supported taking each statue down
- 93%Nathan Bedford Forrest
- 84%Jefferson Davis
- 83%Joe Paterno
- 83%Roger B. Taney
- 79%Robert E. Lee
- 70%Strom Thurmond
- 57%Frank Rizzo
- 53%J. Marion Sims
- 53%'Silent Sam'
- 48%Stephen Foster
- 42%Andrew Jackson
- 31%Christopher Columbus
- 24%William McKinley
- 17%Theodore Roosevelt
- 8%Ulysses S. Grant
- 4%George Washington
2 comments:
This is a great survey, and its results are so telling. America needs to avoid editing its history like Communist Russia did (and is still doing, under Putin). We need to distinguish between reappraisal of history - and erasing it. I still have faith in open society wisdom.
Peter: Wise words: "We need to distinguish between reappraisal of history - and erasing it."
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