Told You They Wouldn’t Stop With Confederates…
Professor argues pioneer monuments could be just as controversial as Confederate ones
There’s been a lot of conversation over the past few years about monuments, specifically ones dedicated to Confederate leaders, and whether they should stay up or be taken down. But, Cynthia Prescott, a history professor at the University of North Dakota, has been looking into a different kind of monument — although in some ways, they’re just as controversial.
Prescott has studied pioneer monuments, including those in Arizona. She defines these as sculptures in the public sphere that depict early white settlers in the American West. And that, she says, also ends up in discussions about how Indigenous peoples are portrayed, as well.
Prescott joined The Show to discuss whether she found pioneer monuments to be part of the same conversation as other kinds of monuments being problematic, or potentially coming down:
A lot of people have talked about Confederate monuments in particular, as being monuments that were put up in the late 19th, early 20th centuries for the purpose of enshrining a racial hierarchy. And through my work, I argue that Western pioneer monuments were doing very similar cultural work.
They were all those that were put up in that time period, and there are dozens of them. They also were intended to reinforce white supremacy over peoples of color. And they, in particular, were addressing so-called white civilization in…
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