UT geographer Derek Alderman contributed an article to CityLab about Confederate memorials and the unjust geography of memory.
The article, co-authored with Reuben Rose-Redwood, examines the history of street renaming and what it can teach us about America’s battle surrounding Confederate monuments.
Alderman noted that like the Charleston Massacre of 2015, the August 2017 white supremacist violence in Charlottesville has served as a catalyst that is reigniting the movement to dismantle the symbols of white supremacy in the United States. From Baltimore to Lexington, cities across the U.S. have either removed Confederate monuments from public spaces already or are currently considering such proposals. Yet many Confederate memorials across the country remain in place despite calls for their removal.
According to a recent study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are more than 1,500 symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces throughout the U.S., and the actual figure is likely much higher if street names are added to the list. Read the full story online.