Cypress College Confederate Statue Monument Debate Discussion

This discussion forum is about public monuments in history and in the present. In 15th century Italy, Donatello created an equestrian monument, modeled after those of ancient Roman emperors, to commemorate a famous military leader. His sculpture of the biblical hero David was commissioned by the Medici family, but it was taken to the town hall in 1494 when the Medici were exiled from Florence. With David as a symbol of the Florentine Republic, in the 16th century, Michelangelo’s David was placed in the main square, again to represent the Republic’s defiance of tyrannical Medici rule.

Public sculptures are still controversial. The issue of confederate statues as public monuments has been in the news. Especially this summer, during protests against police brutality and systemic racism, many statues were taken down. This has also led to questions about whether statues of founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence but was also a slave owner, should be dismantled too. In Module 4, you saw that the Robert E. Lee equestrian statue (1890) from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia is similar in form to the 15th century statues. Today its base is covered in protest grafitti.

Part 1 – Look at the following websites for more context and or conduct your own research on the issues. Consider the questions below and the write a paragraph about what you think and why. (You don’t have to answer all the questions.) Be sure to cite a source from your research that supports your view. You can also discuss why 15th and 16th century statues were controversial.

Historians on the Confederate Statue Debate (2017) (Links to an external site.)
Q & A with Annette Gordan-Reed, Harvard Historian of U.S. Slavery (June 2020) (Links to an external site.)

Here are some questions historians and the public have asked in response to this situation.

• Should all confederate statues be removed?
• Should confederate statues remain or be taken down and why?
• What should be done with confederate statues that are taken down?
• Should they be put in museums to preserve the artistic creation and or for the historical context?
• What or who should be on public monuments?
• Do we see Washington and Jefferson differently than confederate generals?
• How do we best remember history and context?

Here is the LBCC Library Guide (Links to an external site.) for MLA citations. See the Discussion Forum Rubric for length and suggested criteria. Your post is due by Thursday.

Part 2 – Respectfully reply to a classmate’s post about the issue even if you disagree with them. How can you expand the discussion with your comment? Your reply to a classmate is due by Sunday.