Military exercises are conducted in Marion Square in Charleston, South Carolina, with the Calhoun Monument at left, circa. 1907. Library of Congress/Detroit Publishing Co.
Part 6 & last for 2017 in the series “What We’re Saying About the South.”
This fall Harlan Greene (head of Special Collections) and Bernard Powers (History) have been serving on a city commission charged with revising the wording on Charleston monuments. The proposed new wording of the Calhoun monument, as reported this week in the Post and Courier, would tell visitors that the statue towering over Marion Square “remains standing today as a reminder that many South Carolinians once viewed Calhoun as worthy of memorialization even though his political positions included his support of race-based slavery, an institution repugnant to the core ideas and values of the United States of America.”
Harlan Greene
A year ago, Harlan Greene–novelist, historian, and native Charlestonian–was talking about our city’s past and future to a Post and Courier writer, in an interview that continues to resonate. One particularly memorable comment: “Some traditions need to die to have other ones rise in their place. They will.”
We expect and hope that in the coming year, those who study the South will be sharing more of their expertise and insights with the public. So we’ll keep readers posted on what we say about the South in 2018.
