WHEN REFLECTING on whether the Confederate Monument in Savannah’s Forsyth Park is to remain standing or not, some important considerations should probably be taken into account.
One is whether the challenge before us might be more effectively addressed by redefining the function of the monument.
Another would be to examine how we could build upon such a redefinition, or reinterpretation if preferred, to expand one significant aspect of Savannah’s ever-evolving story.
Until now, that story as represented by public monuments, educational curriculum, acknowledged historical figures, and depictions in the dominant media has clearly remained too racially lopsided.
The southern section of what we presently call Forsyth Park (itself named after Georgia’s 33rd governor, John Forsyth) was once known as the South Common.
With the Marine Hospital on one side of the area and the Old County Jail on another, the larger expanse served as a central military encampment that included facilities for Confederate soldiers and Union Army prisoners of war.
Therefore, the structure designated as a monument could actually be viewed more precisely as an official historical marker than as a tribute to those who would have seen my ancestors dying as slaves, and myself, perhaps, eventually born as one.
Redefining the monument as an historical marker for an important site of the American Civil War would not “fix everything” any more than our reigning POTUS’s tweets do.
But some of the discussions about expanding or, in truth, appropriately revising the thematic intent represented by the monolith as it stands makes a lot of sense and possibly could fix quite a bit.
Those of us—black, white, brown, tan, and in-between—who were around at the time will remember that balancing the story of Savannah’s heroes was a primary motivation behind Dr. Abigail Jordan and company’s decade-long battle to erect the African American Family Monument on River Street.
The ripple effect from that victory has benefitted many more than local diverse denizens and a strategically-applied creative approach to resolving the die-hard controversy over the Confederate Monument could produce a similar result.
At present, the iron fence-encircled monument consists of the full-size likeness of a Confederate veteran usually identified as Hamilton Branch, along with busts of Confederate General Lafayette McLaws and Confederate Colonel Francis S. Bartow.
What if, in addition to these, were added sculptures of the following: Savannah educator and 33rd U.S. Colored Troops veteran Susie Baker King Taylor, Union General William T. Sherman (like it or not he won and graciously spared the city), and black freedman, pastor, entrepreneur, and political advocate Andrew Cox Marshall (slightly pre-Civil War, yes, but a worthy figure nonetheless).
Think collective diversity and the truth it represented 150-plus years as well as the truth it increasingly reflects in 2017.
There is no reason the statue of Hamilton could not come down to occupy a space and level on par with the others and, put in its former place, a gleaming eagle or another symbol of justice.
The monument itself could be renamed something like (just an example folks) Emancipation Circle, or Circle of Remembrance.
That would be worth traveling some miles for and something which could provide employment for two or more artists (word has it the city is booming now so why not share the wealth with the creative souls who do so much for its reputation?).
With the threat of war in this century no more than the push of a button away from certain hyper-animated fingers on different continents, we can never forget that Savannah’s great combat story is an integral part of America’s heartbreaking family tragedy.
What happens in the city — racially, culturally, politically, economically, or socially — gets noticed and matters very much.
Narratives spun from the American experience often influence stories lived beyond our shores. A crucial lesson which we may yet pass on to the rest of the world is that by re-envisioning the functional significance of the Confederate Monument we can simultaneously acknowledge our differences and utilize them to everyone’s advantage.
Please consider this: The American Civil War did not end with the chapters on divided families splattering each other’s blood all over the country. Nor did it do so with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
It ended with once-opposing forces pledging to work together towards a healing reconciliation and greater unification within our shared homeland.
That part of our story might never end because each succeeding generation has, and likely always will, find itself reassessing and refining its understanding and practice of democracy.
This current generation in Georgia’s first great municipality has an opportunity to contribute to that process in a very beautiful and empowering way.
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2017.
To Be Or Not To Be: Pulaski Revisited
My brother Aberjhani makes a compelling argument for alterations of the Confederate Monument but fails to take into account that such alterations are in violation of Georgia Code; the laws must change before the monument does.
Second, once the offending gent atop the column is toppled over and consigned to someone’s garden, restorers will rediscover the damage reported to city council during the Johnson administration: there are more than 1,000 cracks in the column and it cannot be patched; it will have to be disassembled– as with the Pulaski monument– and rebuilt, and at a cost that council will claim far exceeds the budget.
Thus, while all this happy talk of appropriation hopes to prevent a mob from tearing down the monument in the dead of night, council will continue to do no such thing other than talk and wait for a time when the monument becomes unstable to the point of dangerous to public safety whereupon it will be dismantled and not rebuilt.
I would not be at all surprised if during the next hurricane that the City sends a crew into the park under cover of darkness and push the damn thing over.
How many generations will come and go before the monument is considered unstable to where it will fall on somebody? Fee fi, foe, fum, I smell a lawsuit. The alterations as proposed by Aberjhani still legitimizes the Confederate cause only the add-ons would be some kind of ointment to soothe old wounds.
I do not understand why Memorial should be touched at all. It has never been problematic before. It is only being discussed now because it is trendy to get hysterical over anything attached to that war. No matter what your thoughts were on that war, it was just that. A war. in which over 620,000 soldiers died. Many of those men were from Georgia. These were people’s fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. The reason that these men fought were many. It can be argued that for some reason boiled down to defending the right to maintain enslaved workers…which as awful as it sounds now, was something that had been perfectly legal and acceptable for many generations. However, there were also, thousands of men who died, who never owned a slave and probably didn’t care if slavery was legal or not. They were poor farmers and merchants, many the descendants of indentured servants and Irish immigrants who found themselves in the middle of a war, facing an invading army who would destroy everything they owned. They fought to defend their homes and their families, which was the honorable thing to do and many of them died doing so. Their grieving sons and widows scraped together what they could once the economy improved a bit to erect monuments to their deaths…just like people have done since the dawn of time to memorialize those who were killed during wars. Do not let yourself be blinded my a flurry of hysterical fury, because a few racist idiots have tried to misappropriate things which they have nothing to do with. The idiot who ran over that poor girl in Va. was from OHIO for Christ’s sake, the home of General William T. Sherman. Blacks will never get ahead as long as they let themselves get distracted by silly things like memorials to dead soldiers and historical markers… it is time to stop blaming the serious issues facing your people on everyone else. Start tackling the real problems head on such as the breakdown of the family unit, a pop culture that glorifies crime, drugs, guns, and violence. Your race is regressing due to all of these things, which is ridiculous. Blacks had it together in the 50’s and 60’s. But now at a time where there is more opportunity available to them than ever before, it seems that the younger generations just do not get it. BLM is a waste of time and of course this movement is not just a black thing, it is full of confused and bored people of all races. Most of the millennial generation is more interested in being outraged and protesting and destroying property at every opportunity than they are to actually educate themselves and do something productive with their time. Oh, and shouting “your’re racist” in order to shut down a conversation whenever somebody says something which you do not want to hear is not productive or very intelligent…it is what people do when they do not really understand what they are so upset about. Sadly, most of the BLM protesters planning 6 weeks of protest in Savannah will probably just end up getting robbed and victimized in some way by the predominantly black gangs which are so prevalent in town. Black Lives Matter, oh the irony.
I saw the photo of the grieving widow ‘neath the weeping willow tree and thought it would be lovely to dedicate the monument to all Savannah’s citizens who have lost a spouse to war. Such a grand sculpture.
To RFW ALLSTON: No poll or survey has ever been taken that I am aware to determine if the Memorial is “problematic”, now is the time for a survey. No, it is not trendy to get hysterical over anything attached to that war. Yet it is trendy for this city to cash in on that war via the tourist industry. The 620,000 soldiers were in essence “hired guns” fighting for the rights of slave owners. Georgia had seceded from the Union so those lines on “something perfectly legal and acceptable” blurs. The grieving sons and widows put their money together for monuments to the deaths of their loved ones which while lifting up those memories only serve to remind the descendants of slaves of another kind of memory. A memory of oppression. The “racist idiots” are never renounced by the so-called good white folks. Blacks are expected to understand that those “idiots” may be of their(so-called good forks) color, they are not of their kind. I understand no such thing and the so-called good white folks prove themselves to be willing accomplices. I am going to say something else here, pop culture comes from white folks. Crime, drugs, violence and guns all from them too. They make movies which glorify and now have the gall to take Blacks for imitating what they see portrayed in mainstream culture. Both real life and in the media. ALLSTON is right. Blacks did have it together in the 50’s and 60’s when they weren’t chasing after “white values”. Any available opportunities, Blacks had to go through hell and high water to get them. It’s not like some white man bestowed opportunities upon Black folks out of benevolence. In the 50’s and 60’s, the Civil Rights movement was considered a waste time. It has dawned on the millennials that they have the thankless task of “damage control” due to the trifling and sorry actions of their predecessors.(silent generation, baby boomers, generation X) That is enough to outrage anyone. If the RW ALLSTON’s had their way, the millennials would be absorbed into the mainstream to continue the oppression of Blacks. BLM will come out just fine in spite of the dire prediction. They are like the Civil Rights of yesteryear who didn’t have deep pockets, so there ain’t nothing to rob. They are on a shoestring budget.