LCV to host forum on Confederate monuments in New Orleans
A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was erected in 1911 in the neutral ground of Jefferson Davis Boulevard and Canal Street. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has proposed renaming the street after retired Xavier University President Norman Francis. Photo by David Johnson.
In light of Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s call to remove or relocate four Confederate monuments in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana Cultural Vistasmagazine is hosting a public forum among four historians to discuss the history and debated fate of the statues of General Robert E. Lee, General P.G.T. Beauregard, CSA President Jefferson Davis, and the obelisk marking the location of the 1874 Battle of Liberty Place. The significance of these men to the city of New Orleans and the eras in which these monuments were financed and constructed will be discussed, along with events surrounding the Reconstruction-era Battle of Liberty Place riot and ongoing controversy surrounding its memorialization. David Johnson, editor of the quarterly magazine of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, will serve as the moderator.
Monumental Decisions: Confederate Memorials in the 21st Century will take place on Thursday, July 23rd, from 6-8 p.m. at the Louisiana Humanities Center, 938 Lafayette St. in the Central Business District.
The panel will include Laura Rosanne Adderley, associate professor of history at Tulane University; Molly Mitchell, professor of early American history at the University of New Orleans; Justin Nystrom, assistant professor and director of Loyola University’s Documentary and Oral History Studio; and Greg Osborn, associate at the New Orleans Public Library.
“The removal of Confederate monuments and iconography from across the South has become a heated topic,” says Johnson. “What is often lacking from these impassioned debates is the historical context that allows for informed opinions about public spaces and the veneration of events and individuals from the past. The humanities provide a civil environment to discuss the memory and long-term ramifications of the Civil War.”
For more information, contact David Johnson, 504-620-2476 or [email protected].
