Thomas Ball, Emancipation Memorial, Park Square, Boston, MA, 1876

Thomas Ball, Emancipation Memorial, Park Square, Boston, Mass., 1876

The Wellesley-Deerfield Symposium

Monumental Narratives: Revisiting New England’s Public Memorials
Mar 10, 2018, 9 AM–5 PM
Collins Cinema
Free and open to the public

As southern Civil War memorials have become a flashpoint for politics and protest, New England’s public monuments are also due for critical examination. The Wellesley-Deerfield symposium will explore the public commemorations of people, places, and events in New England’s past. Illustrated presentations by scholars from across the country will examine how these public acts of memory tell a particular story of New England and how, whether explicitly or implicitly, they conceal, devalue, or erase other histories. Ultimately, presenters will ask: How can we recast these monumental narratives without simultaneously sweeping aside uncomfortable histories of colonialism and discrimination?

Generously supported by the Barra Foundation.

Image Credit:

Martha McNamara