Monuments

News

New York City Commission Opts to Keep Columbus Statue, But Under New Conditions

Officials have decided that only one statue will be moved: that of Dr. J. Marion Sims, a 19th-century gynecologist who experimented on female slaves without their consent.

Art

What a Year of Grief Taught Me About Monuments and Memorials

How personal loss, grieving, and memorialization can humanize and illuminate the controversies around monuments.

News

Over 120 Prominent Artists and Scholars Call on NYC to Take Down Racist Monuments

In a letter to the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, the signatories advocate for the removal of monuments to Christopher Columbus, J. Marion Sims, and Teddy Roosevelt.

News

Staten Islanders Defend Columbus at Final Hearing on NYC Monuments

During Tuesday's Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers hearing at Staten Island Borough Hall, speakers focused nearly exclusively on the Columbus Circle statue.

News

Calls to Take Down Columbus and J. Marion Sims Statues at Public Hearing on NYC Monuments

During a four-hour public hearing in Manhattan on Wednesday, Central Park's Sims statue was universally reviled, while monuments to Columbus, Roosevelt, and others provoked mixed commentary.

News

US Civil Rights Sites and Aleppo’s Old Souk Among 25 Threatened Places Around the World

The World Monuments Fund announced the 2018 World Monuments Watch, listing 25 sites, from the hurricane-hit Caribbean to modernist architecture in India.

Art

Philadelphia's Monument Lab Asks, "What's Right for Public Space?"

In Philadelphia, artists including Mel Chin, Hank Willis Thomas, Karyn Olivier, and Michelle Angela Ortiz create new possibilities for monuments in public spaces.

History

The Histories Erased by a Monument to the Los Angeles Aqueduct

A fountain dedicated to Frank Putnam Flint, the senator who devised the aqueduct supplying LA's water, makes no mention of the human cost of the project.

News

Philadelphia Unveils Its First Statue of an African American, Civil Rights Activist Octavius Catto

The monument to the 19th-century activist Octavius Catto honors his legacy in voting, education, and baseball.

News

Philadelphia’s Fight to Remove a Monument to Former Mayor Frank Rizzo [UPDATED]

Like the Confederate monuments around the country, the sculpture of Rizzo is salt in an open wound for many of the city’s residents of color.

In Brief

Religious Extremists Pressure Indonesian Temple to Cover Giant Statue of a God

The 98-foot-tall statue of Guan Yu in East Java was unveiled in July, but last week nationalist and Muslim protesters rallied to demand its destruction.

In Brief

Protesters Topple Confederate Statue in Durham

A stunning video shows the monument, which was erected in 1924, come crashing down as people cheer.