Are Monuments Set in Stone?

Monuments are not immovable. What we commemorate, what we lift up, what story we tell as a nation has always been changing. How and why do monuments evolve and why are we tackling this now? We'll ask the difficult questions about the meaning they hold in our public spaces and our culture.

We'll situate this series in the current movement to remove historically inaccurate or oppressive monuments and look at how we memorialize today, from the collective outrage symbolized by George Floyd Square to the meditative urban waterfalls of the 9/11 Memorial. We’ll see how artistic responses to the “Emancipation Group”, the memorial depicting Lincoln freeing an enslaved man, can help us find new approaches to commemoration. And we'll introduce the National Monument Audit and the narratives we must challenge to move the monument conversation forward.

Monumental is produced by PRX Productions, PRX’s award-winning creative studio specializing in audio storytelling. For more about the host and the team behind Monumental, visit our website. This series is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation.