Contemporary Monuments to the History of Slavery: Race, Memorialization, Public Space, and Civic Engagement

FAIN: FEL-257329-18

Renee Deanne Ater
University of Maryland, College Park (College Park, MD 20742-5141)

Research, writing, and development of a digital monograph on the design, construction, and changing meaning of contemporary monuments to the history of slavery.

My digital publication investigates how we visualize, interpret, and engage the slave past through contemporary monuments created for public spaces. In the past twenty-five years, there has been an upsurge in the building of three-dimensional monuments that commemorate the Middle Passage and slavery, the resistance to enslavement, the Underground Railroad, the participation of black soldiers in the Civil War, and emancipation and freedom. From Mississippi to Illinois to Rhode Island, governments (local, county, state), colleges and universities, individuals, communities, and artists are in difficult conversations about how to acknowledge the history and legacy of the slave past and its visual representation for their towns, cities, states, and higher educational institutions. These monuments and conversations are the subject of Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past: Race, Memorialization, Public Space, and Civic Engagement.

Media Coverage

Monumental Change (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Sala Levin
Publication: Terp Magazine, University of Maryland
Date: 1/18/2019
Abstract: America’s memorials to slavery and its victims have lived quiet lives in public places. A Maryland professor is traveling the country to learn their stories.
URL: http://terp.umd.edu/monumental-change/#.XM741KZ7m9s

The Art and Politics of Monumentality (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Chelika Yapa
Publication: The Getty
Date: 10/1/2018
Abstract: Focus on the Getty Research Institute's theme of "monumentality" for 2018/2019 with attention to Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past.
URL: https://www.getty.edu/about/whatwedo/getty_magazine/index.html

Creating a Digital Museum to Memorialize America's Slave Past (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Chelika Yapa
Publication: The Iris: Behind the Scenes at the Getty
Date: 4/25/2019
Abstract: Art historian Renée Ater reflects on how pain and reconciliation coexist at the Contraband and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial in Virginia and other monuments to slavery
URL: http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/creating-a-digital-museum-to-memorialize-americas-slave-past/

Associated Products

Alison Saar's Swing Low (Blog Post)
Title: Alison Saar's Swing Low
Author: Renee Ater
Abstract: This blog post considers Alison Saar's Swing Low, a memorial dedicated to Harriet Tubman and located in New York City .
Date: 04/13/2018
Primary URL: https://www.reneeater.com/on-monuments-blog/2018/4/13/legacy-museum
Blog Title: On Monuments
Website: www.reneeater.com

Timeline of Harriet Tubman Monuments (Blog Post)
Title: Timeline of Harriet Tubman Monuments
Author: Renee Ater
Abstract: A timeline of monuments to Harriet Tubman created using Knight Lab's TimelineJS.
Date: 03/09/2019
Primary URL: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=15y_F2yBAyNm69rtxu5C0hNAnJweb-vtkL71d5O5Imxk&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650&fbclid=IwAR10-th-cDZ9CqbPrUA7HrvlEsBQ3D8vSLhyeddp8y6f1Xbmw5ZcRBokoKc
Blog Title: On Monuments
Website: www.reneeater.com

StoryMap of Harriet Tubman Monuments (Blog Post)
Title: StoryMap of Harriet Tubman Monuments
Author: Renee Ater
Abstract: Story map of Harriet Tubman monuments across the United States created created using Knight Lab's StoryMapJS.
Date: 03/09/2019
Primary URL: https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/97a7593bacc4a42ccd10a54b3f80d922/harriet-tubman-monuments-2019/index.html
Blog Title: On Monuments
Website: www.reneeater.com

Omeka: Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Omeka: Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past
Author: Renee Ater
Abstract: Omeka site that includes a database of monuments, exhibits, collections, geolocation information and map of monuments, and a Neatline exhibit.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://www.slaverymonuments.org/
Secondary URL: https://www.slaverymonuments.org/exhibits/show/commemorating-harriet-tubman
Secondary URL Description: Exhibit dedicated to Harriet Tubman monuments in the United States.
Access Model: Open access content management system

Scalar: Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Scalar: Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past
Author: Renee Ater
Abstract: A digital publication of Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past, that is linked to my Omeka site. Note: this site is still in creation and will be updated over the upcoming year, 2019.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: http://scalar.usc.edu/works/contemporary-public-monuments-to-the-slave-past/index
Primary URL Description: Linear and non-linear essays on monuments to slavery.
Access Model: open source authoring and publishing platform

“Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past”
Abstract: Overview of the digital project “Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past.”
Author: Renee Ater
Date: 02/13/2018
Location: Yale University
Primary URL: https://mavcor.yale.edu/ren-e-ater-contemporary-monuments-slave-past

“The Memory of Slavery in the Urban Landscape of Alexandria, Virginia” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “The Memory of Slavery in the Urban Landscape of Alexandria, Virginia”
Author: Renee Ater
Abstract: Consideration a recent monument to the memory of slavery in Alexandria: Path of Thorns and Roses (2014). The artist, Mario Chiodo—a California-based sculptor—modeled the bodies of the enslaved men, women, and children as abject and grief-stricken. Indebted to the modernist handling of materials of Auguste Rodin (Gates of Hell, 1880-1917), Chiodo created a dramatic upward spiral of bodies, clothing, and rose canes. Framed as allegories of Oppression, Struggle, Loss, Sacrifice, Compassion, and Hope, the enfolded bronze bodies suggest the sorrow of slavery with the promise of freedom in the standing male figure high above. The sculptor realized a linear progressive narrative in bronze.
Date: 09/08/2018
Primary URL: https://www.sfmoma.org/event/reckoning-monuments-and-racial-history/
Primary URL Description: SFMOMA website: Reckoning: Monuments and Racial History symposium, California College of the Arts and the SFMOMA, San Francisco, California.
Conference Name: Reckoning: Monuments and Racial History

“Monuments, Remembrance, and the Slave Past” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Monuments, Remembrance, and the Slave Past”
Abstract: Discussion of the monumental landscape to slavery in Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland.
Author: Renee Ater
Date: 02/24/2019
Location: Smithsonian Associates, Washington, DC
Primary URL: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/monuments-remembrance-and-slave-past

“Community Conversation: The Power of Public Monuments and Why They Matter.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Community Conversation: The Power of Public Monuments and Why They Matter.”
Abstract: Discussion with Derrick Z. Jackson, F. Sheffield Hale, and DeRay Mckesson. Sponsored by the National Park Service, City of Boston, Friends of the Public Garden, and Museum of African American History—Boston and Nantucket.
Author: Renee Ater
Date: 01/09/2019
Location: Tremont Temple Baptist Church, Boston, Massachusetts.
Primary URL: https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2019/01/09/january-9-2019-a-community-conversation-the-power-of-public-monuments-and-why-they-matter/

Keynote Address: “Memorializing Harriet Tubman: Race, Space, and the Black Digital Humanities” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Keynote Address: “Memorializing Harriet Tubman: Race, Space, and the Black Digital Humanities”
Author: Renee Ater
Abstract: Lecture focused on two kinds of contested space in relation to race and memorializing Harriet Tubman: the physical public space of the city and the virtual space of the digital realm. The first half of this talk considers the representation of Harriet Tubman as a mythic figure, and then looks closely at Alison Saar’s Swing Low: Harriet Tubman Memorial. Saar’s Swing Low re-inscribes the iconic Tubman on New York City’s landscape and within the contested space of Harlem, a historic black neighborhood since the 1900s, now undergoing rapid gentrification and changing demographics. The second half of the paper approaches Saar’s memorial in the context of the black digital humanities and the attendant issues of recovery and empathy; race, gender, and identity politics (intersectionality); the archive (data and computation); collaboration; access to resources; and sustainability.
Date: 04/07/2018
Primary URL: http://arthistory.indiana.edu/graduate/gaha.shtml
Conference Name: Contested Spaces, 28th Annual Art History Association Graduate Symposium, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

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