African American History Monuments and Contemporary Southern Politics

FAIN: FA-52572-06

Dell Upton
University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA 22903-4833)

This project examines black-history monuments erected in the American South during the past 30 years. These monuments can be sorted into three phases: memorials to civil-rights leaders, monuments to the 1950s-1960s civil-rights movement itself, and commemorations of black history generally. I will examine the problems of representing a democratic and non-violent history using monumental conventions that typically emphasize leaders and dramatic events. Equally important, I will take into account the political processes that bring these monuments into being, askinghow the interpretation and representation of African-American history has served and been shaped by "urban regimes" devoted to economic development and urban revitalization.

Associated Products

What Can and Can't Be Said: Race, Uplift and Monument Building in the Contemporary South (Book)
Title: What Can and Can't Be Said: Race, Uplift and Monument Building in the Contemporary South
Author: Dell Upton
Abstract: What Can and Can't Be Said is a study of a select group contemporary monuments to the civil rights movement and African-American history erected in southern cities since the 1980s. It argues that, more than simple exercises in historical memory, these monuments are powerful expressions of black claims to a presence in the political and public landscapes of the contemporary South. The book also considers the ways that the continuing presence of white supremacist monuments and white supremacist attitudes shapes the form and reception of the black monuments.
Year: 2015
Publisher: Yale University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780300211757
Copy sent to NEH?: No

---