REMOVING AND REPLACING OFFENSIVE MONUMENT AND SYMBOLS
"History describes the people and places of the past in all their greatness and grimness, achievements and failures, nobility and notoriety. Commemoration elevates an act, event or individual by bestowing it with communal esteem and honor. The best histories present humans and their choices in the context of the complex and complicated days they live through... History is about who we were. Commemoration is about who we strive to be.”
"This quote, cited on page #19 of WISH/NOON’s Amicus Brief, is from the United States Naming Commission, charged with renaming military assets that commemorated the Confederacy or Confederate soldiers,
BUFFALO REMOVED THEIR MONUMENT WILLINGLY
Federation of Italian American Societies of Western New York
(Posted July 10, 2020)
ITALIAN FEDERATION TO RELOCATE COLUMBUS MONUMENT
“While the Columbus monument was erected by the Federation to recognize and honor the early struggles faced by Italian immigrants in the United States, it is the desire of the current Federation to dedicate a new monument that reflects the positive history of the Italian immigrant experience…”
A monument of Harriet Tubman now replaces a statue of Christopher Columbus in Newark
Harriet Tubman monument is unveiled in Newark, NJ., replacing Columbus statue, a story by NPR (March 2023)
Learn about monuments throughout the USA and the world that are being removed, relocated or defaced…
Toppled Monuments Archive
Toppled Monuments Archive launched as a result of bearing witness to the global revolution for racial and social justice and a shared desire to preserve documentation of direct action. As a collective, we believe that the monument is a stage for action and our archival practice pushes back against traditional preservation conventions and centers on the event, the people’s history and revolutionary acts. Borrowing from contemporary performance art theory, we consider these objects vehicles for action.
Toppled Monuments in Other Cities
-
Boston, MA
The head of a statue of Christopher Columbus was pulled off amid protests against racial inequality in Boston on June 10, 2020. Photo courtesy of Brian Snyder.
-
St. Paul, MN
A statue of Christopher Columbus lies facedown after being toppled by protesters on the grounds of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. The protest was led by Mike Forcia, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, who called the statue a symbol of genocide. Courtesy of Stephen Maturen.
-
Richmond, VA
A statue of Christopher Columbus rests in a shallow pond after protesters pulled it off its pedestal and dragged it across a street in Richmond, Virginia, on June 9, 2020. Courtesy of Parker MIchels-Boyce.