Welcome to The Monumental Project: How Historic Sites and Monuments of Yesterday Affect Us Today. As the official companion podcast of the Monuments Toolkit program, we will be diving deep into the pieces of American history found across the nation, and how the stories they carry impact the modern day American citizen. The goal of this podcast and the program at large, is to address the question “how do we address monuments of oppression?” What are our options for dealing with painful pieces ...
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If you’ve tuned into the show before, then you know that most of our conversations are centered around public art, history and racial justice. The combination of these three things are the essence of what makes this topic so interesting: how does one tackle the artistic, historic and cultural meaning behind a public structure in the best way possib…
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When it comes to the conversation around Monuments of oppression, there are a few obstacles that usually come into play. To start, there's the Daughters of the Confederacy, the neo-Confederate association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers. They work all over the country to “preserve the legacy” of Confederate soldiers by acti…
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Protecting Legacies: Keeping LGBTQ+ Stories Alive with Victor Salvo
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52:21
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Welcome to another episode of The Monumental Project on behalf of the Monuments Toolkit! In honor of Pride Month, we decided to look at an incredible monument collection that does an amazing job championing the LGBTQ+ community. The monuments in question? None other than The Legacy Walk in Chicago, Illinois. The LGBTQ+ community has made great stri…
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Sculpted Stories: Philadelphia's Public Art and Monument History
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In Philadelphia, monuments are more than just stone and bronze. They're time capsules that take us back to pivotal moments in American history. From William Penn, the Liberty Bell, to even the Rocky Balboa statue, Philadelphia boasts a wide range of public art that rivals the most famous cities around the world. In fact, Philadelphia holds the worl…
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"Reimagining Monuments and Urban Spaces: A Vision for More Inclusive City Planning"
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Urban planning has been a hot topic in recent years, with the world's cities experiencing rapid growth and transformation. As populations surge and infrastructure struggles to keep up, urban planners face a myriad of challenges. One such challenge is how to reconcile the need for progress with the preservation of our cultural heritage. This issue i…
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Women have been creating public art for centuries, but their contributions have often been overlooked or undervalued. For example, during the Renaissance period, female artists were often relegated to the role of assistants or copyists, and their work was rarely recognized as being equal in quality to that of their male peers. Despite these challen…
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The Law of the Land with James E Williams Jr.
39:39
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As stated in our last episode, Controversial monuments and North Carolina unfortunately go hand in hand. The first Confederate memorial in North Carolina, an unnamed Confederate Soldiers Monument in Fayetteville, was built in 1868, only a few years after the south lost the war. Since then, Confederate memorials have been prominently displayed in th…
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Monuments of Upliftment with Dr. Valerie Ann Johnson
41:05
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North Carolina, similar to Virginia, is a state that’s had their fair share of confederate monuments in the public eye. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are 173 Confederate symbols across the state, 42 of those monuments standing in front of state courthouses. This has created a fair amount of unrest in the state on many levels. …
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As this year comes to a close, we would like to take the opportunity to reflect on some of the highlights of The Monumental Project. We have 8 exceptional episodes under our belt, speaking to people from all over the country on a variety of different topics inside the umbrella of cultural heritage and monuments of oppression. We can't wait to see w…
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Native American Narratives with Laura Harris
30:57
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When it comes to cultural roots, the west coast is rich with relevance for so many groups of people. One group in particular is Native Americans. New Mexico is no different, with 23 Native American tribes that are federally recognized in the state. Native American history is celebrated today in museums, the arts, festivals and many other forms of c…
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How to Fix a City with Bonnie McDonald, Landmarks Illinois
37:15
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US/ICOMOS prides itself on connecting with outstanding leaders in the field of historic preservation and racial justice. Collaboration is a central value to the Monuments Toolkit, and we believe that the more we learn, the better we can serve the American people and our listeners around the world! A prime example of this comes this month, as we spo…
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Up to this point, the Monuments Toolkit has sat down with leaders in the academic community, activism community and even politics to gather different approaches to the conversation around monuments of oppression. This month we’ll be speaking to an organization in the artistic community for a different point of view. To many, these monuments are not…
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While there are countless examples of controversial monuments around the country, very few have garnered the attention that Richmond has created with Monument Avenue, a fourteen-block-long, tree-lined residential boulevard cutting across central Richmond The reason for its controversy? Well for over 100 years, the street was riddled with Confederat…
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After the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, citizens of Richmond, Virginia took to the streets to address their problematic statues of confederate figures. Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, Matthew Fontaine and later Robert E. Lee all came down, some from the hands of protesters themselves. To many individuals in Richmond …
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“We've all seen videos of citizens around the country taking matters into their own hands when it comes to monuments of oppression. However, rarely do we hear from these individuals and the communities or organizations they represent. Additionally, what is the history of altering monuments? Is this a new phenomenon, or is this just the latest itera…
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Conversations with Wells Todd, Take Em Down Jacksonville.
30:38
30:38
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Here at US/ICOMOS we are intentional about highlighting the current events and statues that are filling the cultural preservation discourse of today. It is our role to provide listeners with stories and narratives that show them what is really happening with monuments of oppression. This won’t stop for as long as we’re around. However, we also unde…
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What does US/ICOMOS even mean? What exactly are we saying when we say “monuments of oppression”? What is re-contextualization? Knowing these answers are crucial for joining us on this experience. Think of these questions as a compass rose, providing the cardinal directions for the journey ahead. To help answer these questions, I want to introduce t…
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Welcome to the Monumental Project! As the official trailer for the podcast, take a sneak peek into who we are, the work we are doing this season and why this subject matter is so important. Enjoy!By The Monuments Toolkit
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