What do we mean by “public culture”? Most culture is public in some way, in that it involves a set of shared values and communicative symbols that most of us will recognize. But what does that mean? And how does it relate to the way we commemorate history in the United States?
The trouble with the Smithsonian Institution is that it simply has way too much stuff to see. That’s not such a bad thing, though.
George Washington’s plantation home is still around, and it’s still presenting a somewhat airbrushed image of the man.
It’s funny the impact a memorial can have on you. Sometimes you see one portrayed in a book or TV show or film and, perhaps because of the context within which it was shown, and because it looks cool, it leaves a real impression in your mind. Then you forget all about it until, maybe years later, you see the memorial in person from a particular angle or in a particular way, and the mediated memories come flooding back.
The time I visited the George Mason Memorial I stumbled across it almost completely by accident. If there was ever a memorial in Washington, DC that seems like it was intended to be hidden from view, this is it. Just as well it’s so darned charming.
If you’re visiting Washington, DC and find yourself standing at the southern edge of Lafayette Square, chances are you’re there to get a view of the White House. But take a few minutes to look around and you’ll also see the park contains some fascinating statuary. There are some great stories behind those statues.
Lunch counters seem like a quaint piece of early 20th century Americana, and I have long loved them for that. But as with so much of the iconography of Americana, the ugly shadow of racism has tainted our memory of lunch counters and their place in the culture. And when I say lunch counters, I’m really thinking about one lunch counter in particular: the one that once stood in the Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina.
For some reason, in my head I’ve always imagined the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial in a kind of faceoff, vying for top dog position on the National Mall. Both commemorate presidents held in the highest esteem among the American people. Both are, in their own ways, big imposing monuments. But they are also very different from each other.
Dougie Does Monuments 