Monuments of Upliftment with Dr. Valerie Ann Johnson

North Carolina, similar to Virginia, is a state that’s had their fair share of confederate monuments in the public eye. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are 173 Confederate symbols across the state, 42 of those monuments standing in front of state courthouses. This has created a fair amount of unrest in the state on many levels. One example is Enfield, a town based in Halifax county, in which mayor Mondale Robinson took down a confederate memorial himself and was met with threats on his life from a plethora of conservative hate groups. Clearly, there is a lot of action that needs to be done. This is why we’re starting off the new year with a 2 part episode series on North Carolina.

Our first episode takes us to Shaw University, a beautiful university located in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Shaw University is home to a lot of firsts: the first historically Black college in the country to offer a four-year medical program, the first historically Black college in the country to admit women, and the first historically Black college in North Carolina to receive a "A" rating from the State Department of Public Instruction. Needless to say that this school is nothing but an incubator for black success. An integral part of this success, is Dr. Valerie Ann Johnson.

Dr. Valerie Ann Johnson is the Dean of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities and Professor of Sociology at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Previously, she was the Mott Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies and Director of Africana Women’s Studies at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Dr. Johnson  also serves as Board Chair for Preservation North Carolina.  Dr. Johnson with Dr. Lynn Harris (Program in Maritime Studies at ECU)  co-edited Excavating the Histories of Slave-Trade and Pirate Ships: Property, Plunder and Loss published by Springer Press (2022).  Dean Johnson is engaged in public participatory science and public humanities serving respectively on the board for the Citizen Science Association and  advisory committee member for the Humanities Action Lab.

The Monumental Project sat down with Dr. Johnson to speak on her relationship with Confederate monuments in North Carolina, monuments of upliftment, and how we can correctly preserve pieces of our cultural heritage.