2.9 Art and Design research article

          

As defined by Merriam Webster a monument is "A lasting evidence, reminder, or example of someone or something notable or great." and I think a monument should be exactly that, a reminder. With that said the fountain on Court Street is neither a reminder nor something notably great. Its a coverup for the busy and bustling slave trade center that used to be there. Instead of having a bland uninteresting fountain there could be a monument to something that truly moved the society farther forward. Having a monument to the Freedom Riders would be of something notably great as well as a reminder to what they did for the Civil Rights Movement. That monument should also represent the people who participated in that something notably great, and it should mean something to everyone, it has to have its purpose but also resonate with the viewer.

           As I've learned from the Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, The Freedom Riders were a group of people who's goal was to get the supreme courts attention so they would crack down on the southern negligence of the outlaw on segregated travel. They were trying to get to New Orleans from Washington D.C. by bus as to get the Supreme Court's attention. Not only did they do it, but they were brutalized by mobs and their buses were broken and battered and they kept going. When the buses reached Anniston, Alabama there was even a firebomb thrown into the bus while someone held the door closed (Stanford University Article) The mob attacks on the freedom riders was violent and chaotic. When the buses reached the bus stop where the museum is today, the riders were beaten nearly to death (Freedom Riders Museum). After the mob attacks, the riders kept going. As more and more reports of more riders came in, the government finally gave in. Attorney General Kennedy petitions the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) to enforce that all people must be able to ride as equals. As the museum states the Freedom Riders' movement it was a "symbolic resistance to the end of segregation" and as MLK himself put the whole movement as "A psychological turning point in our whole struggle."(Freedom Riders Museum)

Court Street Fountain (Tripadvisor)

          As monuments are concerned, the presentations of them are always above eye-level and are held in high regard. As should a monument be if the fountain on Court Street were to be replaced. A monument there should embody the freedom rides themselves. A symbolic resistance, and something that should never be kept down. No matter the violence or hatred or fire, it would succeed. The design of the monument, I think, should be that of the greyhound bus that the rode on. As per almost every monument, it should be kept high on a pedestal for all to esteem. The statue of the bus should be battered and dented and maybe even on fire, but it should look as though it was still moving towards New Orleans. As the one that drove to Montgomery and got pelted with rocks and had its windows shattered by bricks (Smithsonian Mag). As I have seen from the monuments in Montgomery, all of them fit the criteria of being on a pedestal and being of something of great importance. However not all of them resonate with everyone, as for the Confederate monument memorial it didn't say anything to me. All that tower of stone was for me was a way of appeasing the status quo. Not only that but it seems its hiding from everyone, its hidden away behind trees and the Capital building.

Smithsonian Mag picture of the burning bus

          When I went to see the lynching memorial it really gave a feeling to everyone that went as well as me. It was a feeling of uneasiness and of this "guilt" that we all felt but didn't have a reason to. The memorial was meant to be meaningful and to "contextualize racial terror" through sculptures, art, and design."(EJI Memorial) Its also a place of reflection on the history of America's racial terror and violence, as the creator most literally accomplished with the water streaming down the back wall of the memorial. The memorial square in the middle of the whole structure is a place where you can see all of the six-foot monuments to those who died, and it is very similar to squares where lynchings took place. Later along in time the unclaimed steel monuments laying down baking in the sun will serve as which counties have tried to erase their past and won't accept the truth of history. The Freedom Riders monument, if ever built, must contain a sense of reflection on the past and it should represent those who stood for the movement. It should be important to everyone, whether good or bad depending on their views. However it should be a monument, "A reminder of someone or something notably great."

EJI Memorial for Peace and Justice birdseye view

Sources:
Smithsonian Mag; The Freedom Riders, Then and Now
Stanford Freedom Riders Article
Freedom Riders Museum History
Merriam Webster Definition
EJI Memorial
How to Honor The Dead: Using Art and International Comparisons...