One of my snow bird volunteers just returned to Surratt House after a winter in Florida. She brought back a clipping from a Florida newspaper about a dispute that's brewing in the Florida state parks system over a proposed monument to Union soldiers at the site of the largest Civil War battle in Florida - the Battle of Olustee.
It seems that the park is surrounded by a rural community where most families have lived for generations. "Putting a Union monument at Olustee would be like placing a memorial to Jane Fonda at the entrance to the Vietnam Memorial" was the comment of one resident, a wounded veteran of Vietnam.
While I'm mulling this report over- what do you think about the proposal Laurie. I certainly would not be in favor of the Jane Fonda idea as used in the example.
I think it has been 150 years, and the citizens enjoying the benefits of being in the USA should remember the sacrifices made on both sides to get us to this point. Very frankly, I think the grandiose memorials on both sides have served their time. I am not advocating destroying them, but I do think we need to discontinue them.
Monuments are beautiful and make great photo subjects, but I would prefer a well-written, brief textual sign denoting a battle or piece of history and the effect it had on history. I worked on the John Wilkes Booth Escape Route signs done about ten years ago through the Civil War Trails program. I think they are great, educational, and beneficial. Even better is adding an audio component to them.
I could even get truly tacky and suggest that existing monuments be rigged to talk to you about what the real meaning of the battle/event was -- not just the sculptor's inspiration. And, if this doesn't result in my being lynched, nothing will...
Good answer- to which I agree-except for the talking statue thing-LOL
I do not see monuments depicting civil war soldiers, officers, heroes or battles as offensive or inappropriate. The Civil War is unique. These were all American men, and women who loved their country. There was definitly different ideas as to what the country was to become, but they fought with honor. I would much rather see monuments erected to Americans who fought for love of country than monuments, schools, and street signs altered to depict "new" rewritten history honoring the likes of Che Gueverra, Mao, or even Caesar Chavez.
Chavez was an American who loved his country enough to dedicate his life to the betterment of millions of farm workers; men, women and children.
I am not suggesting that Chavez didn't do some great things for workers, but what has been overlooked by the vast majority of people in the United States and Mexico today was the violence Chávez advocated against farm workers who entered the United States illegally. In a world who villainizes the Governor of Arizona for instance for enforcing the actual federal laws of the land, the actions of Chavez in his time would now be seen as monstrous. Yet today, part of his history is completely left out. I haven't seen it yet, but how does the new movie portray him?
Slightly off subject but....Personally, I think we could use a monument or two more dedicated to the women who stayed home and kept the homefires burning. They suffered immensely during the Civil War, with homes sometimes being burned or ransacked, crops ruined, livestock killed or stolen, having to still try to raise the family, dealing with the uncertainty of what was happening to their sons or husband, and what the future would bring. For many, their world colapssed around them.