Booth figure at ALPLM

[L Verge]

A single statue does not tell the whole story, so if the assassination is scholastically touched on in other ways, it may not be needed. Hopefully, Booth could be/is graphically portrayed via panels or touchscreens? To eliminate him completely would harm history, IMO.

I do recall that the original director received some criticism from John Y. and others regarding his methods of appealing to the masses. History has been pushed farther and farther back in curricula today, so it might be wise to find gimmicks to hook students, but there can be tasteful gimmicks and then there can be ones that go a bit too far.

P.S. I taught secondary history for nearly a decade and then spent about thirty years working with school groups who toured the Surratt House (and also went into their classrooms to teach). I received the shock of my life about ten years ago when I had 20 sixth graders sitting in front of me in our visitors' center and not one hand went up when I asked who Abraham Lincoln was! These were not special needs children.

The only way that I finally got an answer out of them was to show them a penny and then a $5 bill. One gent finally said, "Oh yeah - he's that dude on the money." Sad commentary. If I had been that teacher, I would have died of mortification. However, as soon as we got into the topic of the conspiracy (i.e. gangs in modern language), they became very interested, and I had them eating out of my hand by the end of a twenty-minute session. Maybe we do need that statue in ALPLM...