[As part of America’s reckoning with its oppressive past, the
nation now faces the question not just of what statues and other
images should be taken down, but what else – if anything – should
be put up in their place. ] [[link removed]]

WHAT SHOULD REPLACE CONFEDERATE STATUES?  
[[link removed]]

 

Christian K. Anderson
August 13, 2020
The Conversation

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

_ As part of America’s reckoning with its oppressive past, the
nation now faces the question not just of what statues and other
images should be taken down, but what else – if anything – should
be put up in their place. _

Unveiling of a statue of Richard T. Greener, the first Black
professor at the University of South Carolina, in 2018, Jason Ayer

 

Ever since the University of South Carolina put up a statue of Richard
T. Greener [[link removed]] – who in 1873 became the
school’s first Black professor – one of my favorite things to do
has been to eat lunch on a bench nearby to watch how people interact
with it.

Greener – who taught for four years when the university was
desegregated during Reconstruction – went on to become a widely
recognized lawyer, scholar, diplomat and activist for racial justice.

Some people come to the statue
[[link removed]] with a
purpose, often to show it to others and take pictures. Others pass by
and look at Greener’s likeness with curiosity. Usually when they
read the plaque at the base, they pause with a look of surprise. I
watch them read the plaque again and then walk around the statue as if
to evaluate if this story could be true.

[[link removed]]

A plaque honoring the University of South Carolina’s first Black
professor, Richard T. Greener, lies at the base of his statue in the
middle of campus. The statue was created by sculptor Jon Hair.
Christian Anderson, CC BY-ND
[[link removed]]

As a historian [[link removed]] who examines the role
that race played in the social and political structure of the South,
especially as it relates to higher education, I know that not only is
the story completely accurate, but I believe how the statue in honor
of Greener came to be holds important lessons for today. This is a
time when there is an intensified movement
[[link removed]]
– particularly at America’s colleges and universities
[[link removed]] – to remove
statues and names from buildings or organizations
[[link removed]]
that pay homage to Confederate leaders and others with racist views.

As part of America’s reckoning
[[link removed]]
with its oppressive past, the nation now faces the question not just
of what statues and other images should be taken down, but what else
– if anything – should be put up in their place. What should
become of the empty pedestals where some of these statues once stood?
Should they remain empty or be replaced with memorials that honor the
victims of – and victors over – racism?

I believe the story of the Greener statue helps illuminate a way
forward.

Harvard’s first Black graduate

The story begins in the fall of 2010, when Katherine Chaddock
[[link removed]],
a professor of higher education, mentioned during a graduate course
she was teaching that she had seen a plaque
[[link removed]]
near Harvard Square commemorating Greener as Harvard’s first Black
graduate
[[link removed]].
A student then asked why he hadn’t heard of Greener and what there
was on campus to commemorate and remember him.

A play [[link removed]] about Greener’s life
– and named for one of his essays, “The White Problem,” in which
he took on the ideology of white supremecy
[[link removed]]
– was commissioned and performed as part of the University of South
Carolina’s bicentennial in 2001. But that play has not been
performed since. There is a scholarship
[[link removed]] in memory of Greener
given by the Black Alumni Council, and a portrait
[[link removed]]
of Greener hangs in the president’s office, but these have a limited
audience.

Chaddock started a dialogue with her graduate students and others from
the Higher Education and Student Affairs program
[[link removed]],
along with me and Lydia Mattice Brandt
[[link removed]],
an art history professor.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members all got
involved. We ultimately decided that a statue was the best way to
publicly honor Greener. That statue
[[link removed]]
was unveiled on February 21, 2018.

During the unveiling ceremony, I pointed out how some people wanted to
forget when the campus desegregated briefly during Reconstruction and
hired its first Black professor.

For example, when white students returned to campus after it reopened
as an all-white institution in 1880 – three years after its
desegregated status from 1873 to 1877 came to an end – they ripped
or blacked out pages
[[link removed]]
from the ledgers of the debating societies that had been used by Black
students during Reconstruction.

Who was Richard T. Greener?

Richard T. Greener
[[link removed]]
was appointed professor of mental and moral philosophy at the
University of South Carolina in 1873. As a student at Harvard
[[link removed]] (class of 1870), he won
both the Boylston Prize for elocution
[[link removed]]
and the Bowdoin Prize for writing.

At the time of his appointment, the South Carolina legislature was
majority Black, a radical change brought about by the revision of the
state constitution in 1868
[[link removed]]
allowing for universal suffrage
[[link removed]],
meaning that for the first time all men, including Black men, in the
state could vote.

In addition to teaching philosophy, Latin and Greek, Greener served as
university librarian and reorganized and modernized the library’s
catalog. He also recruited Black students throughout the state and
developed a preparatory program to help them succeed. While on
faculty, he earned a law degree. His diploma and law license were
found
[[link removed]]
in Chicago in 2012 and later obtained by the University of South
Carolina [[link removed]].

After being forced out of South Carolina because the university was
closed, Greener served as dean
[[link removed]] of the Howard
University School of Law, as a U.S. diplomat
[[link removed]]
in Vladivostok, Russia and as the chief administrator of the Grant
Memorial Association
[[link removed]].
He also practiced law. His debates with Frederick Douglass about Black
migration helped Douglass better understand the nature of the South.
W.E.B. DuBois considered him part of the “talented tenth
[[link removed]],” whom DuBois
regarded as the leaders among African Americans.

Greener died in 1922 in Chicago, where he had gone to live with family
and practice law after leaving Russia.

As Chaddock explains in her biography, “Uncompromising Activist:
Richard Greener, First Black Graduate of Harvard College
[[link removed]],” he
was a complex man living in a complex time. Even though he lived only
four years in the state, he always considered himself a South
Carolinian, Rep. James Clyburn emphasized in his keynote address
[[link removed]] at the unveiling
ceremony.

Why do we need new memorials?

Historian Eric Foner
[[link removed]] has argued
[[link removed]]
that Americans should erect new statues because “our public
monuments have not kept up.” With Greener’s statue, the University
of South Carolina showed that it would recognize, seek to understand
[[link removed]]
and celebrate
[[link removed]]
forgotten parts of its past.

Political science professor Todd Shaw
[[link removed]]
connected Greener’s pioneering legacy
[[link removed]] to his own in his
remarks before the statue was officially unveiled. Shaw in 2017 became
the first African American to chair the University of South
Carolina’s political science department. “In each case, for
varying reasons, both Greener and I were and are proud to serve though
the road to our appointments were admittedly a long time in coming.”

The statue [[link removed]] not
only celebrates Greener’s contributions, it stands as a symbol of
how we can reclaim and understand a lost, misunderstood or
misrepresented history.

[_Get our best science, health and technology stories._ Sign up for
The Conversation’s science newsletter
[[link removed]].]

Whom will your campus honor?

Making the statue a reality required a grassroots process that took
more than seven years. The process involved identifying a site with
the university architect, approvals from the Board of Trustees and
fundraising. President Harris Pastides
[[link removed]] helped push
it over the finish line and supported it as a means to help “build,
not divide”
[[link removed]]
the community.

The point is that erecting new statues to replace the ones that have
fallen out of favor may not always be a quick and easy process,
although perhaps it could become easier given the current momentum
behind efforts to replace monuments to the Confederacy and others who
sought to uphold white supremacy.

But regardless of how long it may take and who all gets involved, what
is clear is that it all must start with two simple questions: Who is
and isn’t recognized on our campus? And why?[The Conversation]

Christian K. Anderson
[[link removed]],
Associate Professor of Higher Education, _University of South Carolina
[[link removed]]_

This article is republished from The Conversation
[[link removed]] under a Creative Commons license. Read
the original article
[[link removed]].

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web [[link removed]]
Submit via email
Frequently asked questions [[link removed]]
Manage subscription [[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org [[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]