The statue of George Washington in New York City's Union Square commemorates him on a particular day—November 25th, 1783—the date when the defeated British Army left Manhattan after the American Revolutionary War. The statue celebrates the idea that Washington brought freedom to the country, but professor of history at Rutgers University-Newark Dr. Lyra D. Monteiro researched how many people of African descent that Washington was enslaving on that same date: 271.
Representing these people formed the heart of Washington's Next!, a participatory commemorative experience focused around that statue. In this episode, Monteiro describes how a tweet from President Trump was the inspiration for the name, how passersby reacted to the project, and the subtle ways that public monuments have power.
Topics and Links
00:00 Intro
00:15 George Washington in Union Square (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_George_Washington_(New_York_City))
00:30 Evacuation Day (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evacuation_Day_(New_York))
01:50 Dr. Lyra D. Monteiro (https://sasn.rutgers.edu/about-us/faculty-staff/lyra-d-monteiro)
02:35 Trump’s Tweet (https://www.washingtonsnext.com/about)
03:30 The Slippery Slope Argument
05:30 George Washington Viewed As Beyond Reproach
07:26 Washington's Next! (https://www.washingtonsnext.com/)
09:10 Making Something the Public Wants to Engage With
11:05 How Public Monuments Have Power
12:50 Museums on Site (https://www.washingtonsnext.com/the-museum-on-site)
13:20 Episode 25. The Museum of Socialist Art in Sofia, Bulgaria is Figuring Out What to Do With All the Lenins (https://www.museumarchipelago.com/25)
13:40 Outro / Join Club Archipelago (https://www.patreon.com/museumarchipelago)
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Transcript
Below is a transcript of Museum Archipelago episode 77. Museum Archipelago is produced for the ear, and only the audio of the episode is canonical. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, refer to the links above.


View Transcript



[Intro]

There’s a statue of George Washington in Union Square in Manhattan. It’s the oldest statue in New York City’s Park service; it was erected before the Civil War. it is cast to present Washington on one particular day -- November 25th, 1783 -- otherwise known as Evacuation Day. On that day, which was just after the end of the American Revolutionary War, the defeated British Army departed New York City.


Lyra Monteiro: Because Manhattan was their stronghold. And most of the black people who had joined the British side with the premise of freedom were evacuated from in defiance of George Washington's terms for this surrender, for the British surrender and all that. But this particular statue of George Washington is commemorating a hugely important date for this city. It's commemorating an