Public Space & Monuments by Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment

Monuments and memorials have been the focus of contentious national conversations due to, at least in part, who and what they honor, and how their design memorializes the truth or fiction of our collective past. Professors and students from the Tulane School of Architecture and Department of Psychology collaborated to share research methods and develop new courses that focus on public space and memory. This publication highlights our investigation of existing monuments and exploration into more just and equitable spaces in New Orleans and beyond.

Public Space & Monuments

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PUBLISHER

DISTRIBUTION

Cover Design: Tiffany Lin

Cover Illustration: Malina Pickard

Memorial, Monument, Public Memory

Layered Histories, Conflict

Commemoration

Vestige, Testament

Renaming, Removing, Dismantling

Toppling, Mourning, Healing

Tragedy, Atrocity, Grief

Guilt, Morality, Fragility, Emotion

Reconciliation, Renewal

Public Space & Monuments

Diversity, Activism, Engagement

Fragility, Emotion, Community

Bias, Prejudice, Discrimination

Racism, Stigma

Affirmation

Authority, Power

Oppression

Freedom of Speech

Social Justice

Reconciliation

Citizenship

TIFFANY LIN, AIA

Associate Professor of Architecture

Design Program Director

LISA MOLIX, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Psychology

Department of Psychology

EMILIE TAYLOR WELTY, AIA

Architecture Professor of Practice

Architecture Program Director

Introduction | Sue Mobley

Project Overview

Research Seminar

National Survey

Research Studio

Exhibition

Precedents

Local Transformation

Typologies

Nola Monument Catalog

Reflection | Edson Cabalfin

| Emily Captiville

Introduction

As Director of Research and co-author of Monument Lab’s National Monument Audit, I often joke, when presenting our findings, that the American monument landscape is overwhelmingly statues of white, wealthy men, which you already know, if you’ve ever been outside. More seriously, I point to the Audit as a snapshot, a starting point for understanding the monument landscape we’ve inherited, but one which requires a much broader range of research to engage local conditions and imagine new monument landscapes. Which is why I was thrilled to see, and to participate, in this research, which offers new insights into New Orleans’ monuments and the spaces they occupy in our city and society, as well as the perspectives of those who are being educated to shape those spaces. Through experiment and investigation, Public Space & Monuments draws on far more than our recent interrogations into monuments and memorials; connecting threads of all three authors’ exceptional bodies of work in their respective fields to engage more deeply with how we understand, inhabit, and shape the places around us.

The How Do We Remember exhibit was an innovative approach to refining students skills and playing to their strengths while also challenging standard models for public engagement. We understand monuments and memorials differently when we

remove them from their pedestals, as is clear from the flurry of interest around each statue removed or altered in recent years, there are no points in a monument’s existence where we are more interested in the people and politics represented through its presence in our public spaces than when it is erected or when it is removed. When you line them up on the wall, monuments are no longer static and silent objects signaling veneration, and can be engaged with a far greater range of response, evoking curiosity, concern, compassion, and even contempt. If, as one survey respondent posited, “the monument bears the memory of

Monument Audit, Monument Lab and Mellon Foundation

2022 Photo by Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg. Courtesy of the photographer.

the city and the will of the nation,” curiosity might lead us is to questions of why the city’s memory is borne in the celebration of those who overthrew the municipal police and government, and what nation’s will venerates the president of a treasonous insurrection against it? Concern might raise questions of how our nation’s will is shaped by the preponderance of war and violence celebrated in our public spaces. Compassion wonders what inspiration might we be expected to take, what lessons might we learn or not learn from standing so persistently and overwhelmingly in awe of singular white men? And contempt, whether there is any hope for repair or progress within a landscape so marked?

Those are questions about monuments, but they are questions about design and design education as well, for those who take on the vocation of shaping our built environment are also shaped by it. If we need our landscapes: natural, built, social to evolve, then there are lessons that must be unlearned. As the authors found, students who were, “able to witness and participate in true dialogue with the community that resulted in a necessary outcome—a pause on the project—rather than a short-sighted move to barrel forward without considering the consequences.” How might our built environment benefit from more pauses like this? From occasions of dialogue outside of

formal processes? How might humility, reflection, and inclusion serve as guiding principles for a design education that serves a broad and complex network of publics?

The differences between non-designers and designers on what is important in public space is a pain point, and an area for growth. That designers surveyed high on measures of social hierarchy and dominance should come as no more surprise to anyone who’s ever entered an architecture school then the prevalence of statues of white men on war horses should to anyone who’s ever entered an American town square. Traditional design education selects for and reinforces social dominance, but engaged design and interdisciplinary research offer approaches to design education that better meet our collective needs. If we want public memorials that reflect a multiracial democracy, then we need diverse participation in their making and democratic processes in their design. As the Audit was a launching point for research into the monument landscape, I hope that Public Space and Scrutiny serves as a model for interdisciplinary design education that can challenge a growing politics of hostility towards diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Sue Mobley urbanist, organizer, and advocate Director of Research at Monument Lab

Across the United States, monuments that honor racist or socially inequitable histories are being toppled as communities imagine more inclusive public spaces. Within this context, an interdisciplinary team of researchers, comprised of two architects and a social psychologist from Tulane University, collaborated to improve our understanding of how perceptions of existent monuments can influence the design of new forms of commemoration in New Orleans. This project, originally titled, Public Space and Scrutiny: Examing Monuments through Social Psychology, was sponsored by the 2020 SOM Foundation Research Prize. The team conducted a national survey to investigate public opinions of existing monuments, and led a research seminar and design studio to explore new forms of collective memory on a local site historically marked by racial injustice. The research team and students wove the data and design speculations into a public exhibition entitled:

How Do We Remember?

Left: Bust of Confederate soldier C. Dreux on former Jefferson Davis Parkway (renamed Norman C. Francis Parkway) in New Olreans, Louisiana 2018 Photo by William Widmer. Courtesy of the photographer.

We were inspired by the rising movement to question the relevance and legitimacy of monuments and memorials in public spaces, particularly in the context of protests against racial injustice. National Geographic photographer Kris Graves has powerfully documented these monuments as public stage sets— sites of both resistance and rallying points for those advocating their preservation or removal.

1. Christopher Columbus statue. Richmond, VA. Photo by Kris Graves

2. Francis Scott Key monument, Baltimore, MD. 2017 Photo by Eli Pousson

3. Abram Ryan monument. 2017 Photo by Bart Everson

4. Robert E. Lee monument removal. 2017 Photo by Information of New Orleans

5. Confederate General Stuart statue of. Richmond, VA. Photo by Kris Graves

6. Jefferson Davis monument. New Orleans, LA. 2004. Photo by Bart Everson

Overview

Monuments have been the focus of national conversations and contention because of who and what they honor, and how their designs memorialize or elide the truth of our collective past. Monuments and memorials in public spaces, particularly those that honor a legacy of racial injustice, have become public stages on which communities have expressed the need for social change. They are the backdrops for rallies to either keep or remove these contested objects. Protesting, vandalizing and monument removal has taken place throughout the city of New Orleans. The city now has the opportunity to reimagine, reframe, and recontextualize its collective history.

This research team identified a need in both the data collection and the practical work governing these opportunities. Although conversations surrounding public memory and social justice are becoming integrated into design pedagogy and practice, very little of the empirical work on the recontextualization of public spaces has included the voices of the communities in which these spaces exist. Furthermore, the architecture profession does not typically reflect the communities for whom public spaces are designed. This interdisciplinary research project examines differences in perceptions of public monuments and aims to equip designers with the skill set to engage with communities

to create equitable, inclusive, and historically accurate forms of collective commemoration. With the support of an SOM Foundation research grant, the team conducted: (1) a research seminar, (2) a national survey, and (3) a design/ build studio with a community partner that resulted in a public exhibition.

Our team collaboration draws from each of our existing programs of research and teaching, extending our expertise in the areas of social identities, bias and intergroup stress (Molix), design pedagogy (Lin), and community engagement and design/build implementation (Welty).

Project Timelie

Top: Ethnographer Rachel Breunlin talks with students at City Park

Bottom: Dr. Ibrahima Seck shares the history of Whitney Plantation

Research Seminar

Through the execution of this project, the research team defined, as a key outcome, the cooperative development of a set of tools for use in the reconceptualization of contested public spaces. To this end, we conducted an architecture seminar in the fall of 2021 that invited students to examine existing public spaces, monuments, and memorials and to collaborate on developing a framework for future design. The course introduced students to the diverse interdisciplinary perspectives necessary to inform and then create such a framework. For example, students learned fundamental scientific methodologies and protocols used in social psychological research including the ethics and compliance training required by the Institutional Review Board for working with human subjects. They also learned about intergroup relations theory and research with a focus on explicit and implicit bias.

The course paired this theoretical foundation with practical components, such as field trips and site visits to relevant spaces. Locally, students visited such contested locations as Jackson Square, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument and the Plessy v. Ferguson Marker. In addition to these local museums and monument sites, the students and instructional team traveled to Montgomery, Alabama to visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. We included this site in the course in order to offset

students’ sometimes narrow references and expectations for what a monument/memorial should be. The abstract spatial experience choreographed by MASS Design Group provides a stark contrast stark contrast to the typical object-on-plinth typology common to existing monuments and memorials, challenging students to reorient their previous conceptions about monuments and memorials. This prescribed, designed experience exposed students to an alternative way of remembering. During the visit, we traversed a vast array of steel figures engraved with accounts of lynchings cataloged by counties. As the circumambulatory ramp dropped down, the steel boxes became suspended in mid-air relative to the viewer, evoking the visceral atrocity in our collective memory. The decidedly sequential experience, with a clear and intentional beginning and end, ultimately informed the group’s speculative design proposal for the exhibit described above. Inspired by this experience, students also identified a need to develop an awareness of other contemporary monuments and memorials that challenge existing typologies of the monument landscape in order to effectively incorporate diverse perspectives into an understanding of the current landscape. They then created a catalog of those monuments and memorials as part of their work in the course.

Left and next pages: National Memorial for Peace and Justice. MASS Design Group. Montgomery, AL. 2021 Photos by Tiffany Lin.

National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL. Corten steel boxes bearing the names of victims of racial terror lynchings across the United States. Photos by Tiffany Lin.

The box inscribed with victims of Orleans Parish.

Top R: Students with artist José Cotto at the Small Center for Collaborative Design; Bottom R: Zoom discussion with Director C.J. Hunt and Jha D. Amazi

Enriching the interdisciplinary perspectives of our team, guest speakers were instrumental in extending our frame of reference for discussing monuments and memorials and leading class discussions in the context of the national movement.

Seminar guest speakers included:

• Jha D. Amazi

Co-director of the Public Memory and Memorial Lab at MASS Design Group

• Rachel Breunlin

Ethnographer and co-founder of the Neighborhood Story Project

• Jose Cotto

Local artist and photographer

• C.J. Hunt

Comedy writer and director of The Neutral Ground documentary

• Bryan Lee

Architect and founder of the Design Justice Platform and Colloqate Design

• Sue Mobley

Senior Research Scholar at Monument Lab

• Dr. Ibrahima Seck

Historian and research director at the Whitney Plantation Museum

Researchers & Designers at Tulane

Researchers & Designers at Tulane University are seeking participants

Who: Adults (18 and older) are eligible

What: Participate in a 45-minute to 1 hour discussion with other community members on the design and use of public spaces and monuments This discussion will help shape the content of a future survey that gathers the voices of community members and design professionals After participating in a small focus group session (5 people), participants will be paid $20 for their time

Where: Focus groups sessions will be held in-person at socially distanced locations: The Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design or at Tulane’s University Square Virtual sessions (in the participants’ own space) via Zoom can also be hosted

When: Focus groups will be scheduled based on participant availability

For more information, please contact us at: 504-314-7543

socpsy@tulane.edu

SPACEANDMONUMENTSTUDY.ORG

Please sign up online!

QR Code to online form:

Focus Group Study recruitment poster by Malina Pickard

Building upon the distinct perspectives of each invited speaker, along with exposure to social psychology and racial justice literature, the team generated the framework for community discussions and the content for public surveys. Students of the class combined input from these sources to complete a number of assignments, putting into practice the necessary considerations of the impacted community. In concert with the development of the research materials (e.g., survey, recruitment posters, community talking points), students produced a catalog of existing monuments/memorials/rituals and analyzed each case study in terms of formal and perceptual characteristics. They worked in groups to diagram and catalog existing monuments and memorials in terms of type, subject matter, formal characteristics, and temporality. These studies generated an index of existing monuments and memorials in the Greater New Orleans region in order to expose students to the multiplicity of monuments and the associated potential complexities of community opinions.

This exercise was both educational and practical, informing the students about memorials while providing a collaborative and educational design opportunity for the class that could help to address the previously identified knowledge gap among architecture and design professionals.

The culminating exhibtion included an interactive catalog of existing monuments exhibited at the American Institute of Architects Design Center in New Orleans.

Engaging a wall of operable panels, participants were invited to note whether they had seen the monument, whether they knew what it was about, and whether or not they liked it—which served as additional data on perceptions of public spaces, monuments, and memorials. The location of these case studies were marked with red dots on a city map adhered to the ground, with a prompt asking participants to indicate their own awareness of other monuments by inviting them to extend this catalog to areas our team has yet to include. In addition to educating the visitors, this installation project prompted self-reflection as well. A catalog of each of the fifty individual monuments and a summary of exhibition responses can be found on pages 98-305.

Left: How Do We Remember? Exhibition wall of case studies: Each monument/ memorial presented as an operable panel that invited visitors to share their opinions of the piece.

Our team believes that a significant gap exists between designers and community members, particularly in spaces that may be contested. We sought to be self-aware, teaching the students the importance of community input when work, as in our case, would result in an exhibition in a contested space. The team identified one way to fill this gap, through a survey to gather the data that should inform a project such as ours. We relied on this survey data to inform our work and posit that the survey itself can also serve as a template for data collection that may be done by future architects and designers as they embark on similar projects. We identified important questions to be answered that would be vital in helping us design our project. The primary research goal of our national survey study was to quantitatively examine the relationship between social group memberships, individual differences in social dominance orientation (attitudes toward social hierarchies and beliefs about whether one’s groups should dominate other groups),color-blind ideology (denial of racial differences by emphasizing sameness and denial of racism by emphasizing equal opportunities), community esteem or a sense of community, and participants’ opinions about which elements of design are relevant or desirable in community spaces. Over four hundred participants completed the thirty-minute survey as of April 2022. The survey data contains perspectives from across the

United States, including people who self-identified as designers and those who do not identify as designers.

Although participants generally endorsed all objects as important (M =4.05 on 7 point Likert scale), the initial data suggests that there are differences in opinion between nondesigners and designers on what elements of design are ideal in public spaces. For example, those who did not self-identify as designers rated trees/bushes/flowers/objects, shade, parking, playgrounds, and art as being more important than those who self-identified as design professionals. In addition, both those who did not selfidentify as design professionals and design professionals strongly endorsed the idea that public monuments and memorials should reflect the communities where they exist. Most participants (89%) reported that they would enjoy public spaces and monuments more if they participated in creating it.

The graphic representations in the following pages highlight some findings from the survey, including initial data showing statistically significant differences between designers and nondesigners. Specifically, nondesigners reported lower social dominance orientation (SDO), endorsement of color blind ideology, and esteem for their community when compared to

design professionals. To date, no previous empirical research exists that examines the personality or worldviews of those who identify as design professionals. Due to the novelty of this data, the pattern of results elicits more questions than answers. Why are the worldviews of the design professionals in this data set different (e.g., less egalitarian, endorse colorblind ideology) from the nondesigners? Are these differences related to their choice of vocation or training? Despite an increased focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion across the discipline remains homogeneous.8 Indeed, increasing representation at all levels and improving the effectiveness of architectural education and accreditation via best practices will be necessary to achieve a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive field. Future research should aim to examine these relationships, the relationship between individual differences in worldviews, representation, and inclusive training practices.

In an effort to collect more qualitative data, our survey asked several open response questions such as: “Are there any personal thoughts you want to share related to the topic of public spaces/ monuments in your city?” Several participants took time to write in comments in these open fields. (Sample questions from the national survey can be found in the Appendix of this publication.)

Detail of site engagement panels designed and constructed by students.

Design Studio

The research seminar and studio associated with this project offered our students an opportunity to put theory into practice. Through the courses, students reconsidered design pedagogy and had a chance to welcome a broad coalition of stakeholders to collaborate on a community-engaged or participatory action research method of marking memory in public space.

Our team led a group of architecture students through the process of prototyping a public memorial for the Lafitte Greenway—a linear park that transverses six urban neighborhoods of Central City, New Orleans. We collaborated with a community partner, Friends of Lafitte Greenway, a nonprofit organization with the goal of generating a community-engaged process that would inform the design of a new public memorial. Our team took every opportunity to incorporate relevant data and community input in the conceptualization of the project in order to develop a template for other designers doing similar work.

The specific site we selected is a public park that used to house a segregated playground.9 Currently the park is frequented by adults, children, locals and tourists of all races, enjoying the space for recreation and fitness. However, there exists recognition of its history in the location’s online presence or physical space.

Top: render of site engagement panels; Bottom: site photo with erected panels.

The work required students to generate design proposals that acknowledged this divided history, and advance conversations regarding the need to codesign public spaces and memorials that reflect the communities in which they are situated. We coached our students through conversations with local elders and helped them understand how to use this qualitative information as well as the data from the survey to help the team shape the program for this site-specific proposal and translate the desire for communicating layered community histories.

We worked with a community partner with deep-seated knowledge of the site and its conflicted history, which allowed our design studio to test strategies for more inclusive site engagement and designs. For example, we erected temporary panels asking passersby to write what they thought would “make this place better” and whether they had a “story to share” about the site. The following pages show engagement with the panels that were designed by students, erected on site, and left for three weeks, during which time our team hosted activities to encourage conversations with those who frequent the park. We also held design process reviews on these site panels, inviting community input and critique. Students working in our social psychology lab transcribed and coded the data from these boards, which is

Site engagement boards erected for 3-weeks to collect community feedback.

Top: Graphic summary of park use as observed by team during site visits.

Right: Summary of responses from leave-behind site engagement boards.

“BENCHES” “WALKING PATHS”

“SPLASH PADS” “SKATE LIFE”

Top: Meeting with the community elders at the Friends of the Lafitte Greenway headquarters; Bottom: Students engaging with park users on site

graphically summarized on the following pages. Beyond this indirect input, students gained exposure to the complex nature of community opinion and the possible tensions or synergies between community engagement and survey data through direct connections with stakeholders. During conversations with community elders who grew up adjacent to this park, stories of important local leaders, social activists, and cultural events were shared. These meetings helped us better understand community members’ strong desire to have a space to recall their memories of this park and to contend with the stark, and relatively recent, transformations along the Lafitte Greenway. Many community members expressed a clear sentiment that the families who inhabited the housing complexes near the park were displaced due to gentrification. They also lamented that the current conditions of the park no longer reflected the community who helped build and care for it. The compilation of this feedback marked an important lesson for our students. While a project may be well-researched and a designer well-intentioned, information may become available that thwarts forward progress.

We realized that, in order to fully recognize and respect this history—and properly record and preserve these stories—the timeline to collect and appropriately incorporate personal stories

into a public monument was in conflict with the short calendar of an academic design/build studio and iterative IRB processes. Students were able to witness and participate in true dialogue with the community that resulted in a necessary outcome—a pause on the project—rather than a short-sighted move to barrel forward without considering the consequences.

Rather than crafting a design in the space, our team pivoted to the creation of an exhibition which aimed to share and extend our collaborative process with the public at the semester’s end. We invited community stakeholders to this space as an opportunity to critique our work and the process in order to further the conversation. Designing the exhibition and a physical prototype offered a pause to reflect upon the design process, and further design development conversations and decision making processes with our community partners. To this end, our team designed a series of abstract folded modules as a point of departure, able to adapt to the content desired by the community and be arranged into various different configurations. These placeholder modules can be aggregated in various orientations to create sculptural gateways. In the proposed scenario presented at the exhibition, the gateways align to connect the historic gate of the Black-only playground to the iconic oak tree on the site.

With branches spanning over 100-feet in diameter, this tree served as a natural landmark and shaded destination to culminate the folded gateways. These spatial frames were also designed to support benches and tables—informal gathering spaces desired by the community as we learned from our site conversations and data-collection boards. The proposal consisted of eight folded Corten steel panels that outline profiles of local figures to be honored, inscribed with local histories, and serve as a physical timeline that records the park’s transformation. Renderings and models of this speculative design proposal served as a vehicle for advancing conversations about what could be an appropriate

Proposed community “monument” for Lafitte Greenway

Landscape module studies inscribed with historical site data.

Unfolded Elevations

View of site proposal showing path and remembrance modules that are situated in a formerly segregated playground. The path runs from a neighboring historic housing complex to an active park.

Street View

Path View

design memorializes the truth or fiction of our collective past. Over the last academic year, professors and students from the Tulane School of Architecture and Department of Psychology have collaborated to share research methods and develop new courses that focus on public space and memory. This exhibition highlights our investigation of existing monuments and exploration into more just and equitable spaces in New Orleans and beyond.

How Do We Remember ?

Monuments and memorials have been the focus of contentious national conversations due to, at least in part, who and what they honor, and how their design memorializes the truth or fiction of our collective past. Over the last academic year, professors and students from the Tulane School of Architecture and Department of Psychology have collaborated to share research methods and develop new courses that focus on public space and memory. This exhibition highlights our investigation of existing monuments and exploration into more

5.20.22 Friday 5pm–8pm

Please join us for the opening reception

5.20.22 Friday 5pm–8pm

Please join us for the opening reception

Exhibition

The culminating event of this project was the exhibition of this body of work at the AIA New Orleans Design Center—a charged venue that is in front of an approximately seventy-fivefoot empty pedestal that held a 16’-6” statue of Robert E. Lee until it was removed on May 19, 2017. Its storefront windows also face the city’s Civil War museum. Interactive panels invited visitors to contribute to the content of this exhibit and engage in conversations surrounding the design of monuments and memorials. Photos from the event show the final exhibition which incorporated content from the national survey, research seminar, and design studio—weaving together precedent analysis, monument typologies, our speculative proposal, and data from the National Monument Audit by Monument Lab.11 A full-scale mock-up in the exhibition space serves as a prototype for the landscape modules. It is inscribed with our overarching aim for the design proposal:

What if a MONUMENT is an experience: something you can walk through; and see yourself in; and sit with; that teaches you the history of the place?

While the exhibition was not the original goal of the course, students learned that if they sincerely wish to incorporate community feedback, they may need to shift their goals to better align them with the feelings of impacted citizens. This lesson is vital if design professionals wish to incorporate equitable practices into their public work. Please use the QR Code above to navigate a 360 documentation of this exhibition.

View of exhibition with inscribed prototype panel.

Right: Silhouetted hanging panels represent the four monuments removed in New Orleans, installed to frame the view toward the Civil War Museum.

Next Page: Graphic of data sourced from the Monument Lab’s National Monument Audit Sponsored by the Mellon Foundation-- fabricated into exhibition panels

of 48, 178 U.S. Monuments Studied, only 0.1% mention Confederate defeat; only 0.1% mention slavery in the Civil War.

of 48, 178 U.S. Monuments Studied, only 0.5% represent enslaved peoples and abolition efforts; 0.6% were removed in 2020-21.

of the top 50 individuals memorialized in the United States, only 6% are of women; only 10% are of black and indigenous people

for every 1,300 U.S. Monuments of ward, only 100 are about peace.

As educators who work to teach design values and practices that build a more equitable future, we hope that projects such as this can help both students and professionals in design fields gain a deeper understanding of and commitment to the relationship between design and social justice. Our work strengthened our belief in the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to gather data and the buy-in of community members if we want to create meaningful public monuments and memorials. Through this process, our design ambitions were tempered by the challenges and complexities (logistical, emotional, safety, budgetary) of completing a public memorial project in one academic semester. However, we were heartened by the flexibility and adaptability of our students as they developed an appreciation for the voices that informed our pivot. From speaking with the community elders, we were humbled by the extensive personal histories that preceded us and the need for more time and vested engagement to truly respect the immediate community input and craft a process for deciding which stories are told and how. We revealed that the time needed for this thoughtful engagement was at odds with academic and grant cycles, creating some internal friction between the desire to act and the need for more conversation and collaboration.

Previous spread and right: Exhibition wall presenting 50 case studies of monuments and memorials in New Orleans, each displayed as an operable panel that invited public commentary. A map of the Mississippi River through New Orleans indicated the location of each site.

Although the design/build project paused, we hope the gathering of this information will inspire design proposals that bridge the gap between architects and the general public when creating spaces marked by racial injustice. In addition, we hope the survey results and engagement tactics we used can be referenced by other practitioners, artists, and academics working on similar projects in the future.

View of exhibition boards.

Looking through the window at the empty pedestal on former Lee Circle, visitors envision and draw the future “monument,” contributing to this exhibition.

Precedents

How do we remember is not just a local question . . .

People across the world have been reckoning with how to mark, memorialize, and learn from past injustices. As we think about new ways to make monuments and memorials in New Orleans and beyond, it's useful to see the range of approaches employed by others wrestling with similar questions. These are a few of the projects our research team has been looking at to understand how designers, historians, and social justice workers are thinking anew about memory in public space.

1997

Dakar, Senegal

Artist: Ottavio Di Blasi

The Battle is Joined Goree Memorial

Located on the Island of Goree in Senegal, a UNESCO World Heritage site marking the largest slave-trading center on the African coast, the Goree memorial marks the highest point on the island and symbolizes those who were deported across the sea and those who remained in Africa.

May 1–November 16, 2017

Vernon Park, PA

Artist: Karyn Olivier Olivier’s temporary installation in Vernon Park was an acrylic mirror encasement that covered a twenty-foot-high Revolutionary War monument. The casement intended to bring people closer to one another, their surroundings, and their living histories.

Nelson Mandela "Release" Sculpture

2012

Nelson Mandela "Release" Sculpture

2012

Apartheid Museum, South Africa

Artist: Marco Cianfanelli

Marking the South African site where Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962, this sculpture is made of 50 steel columns whose arrangement appears random from most angles but aligns to form an image of Mandela’s face about 100 feet in front of the sculpture .

Camp Barker Memorial

2019

Camp Barker Memorial

2019

Washington D.C.

Artist: After Architecture

In response to the landscape of American monuments to battle, the Camp Barker memorial is comprised of three entry gateways to an elementary school which reveal the site ’s complicated history as a Civil War-era contraband camp. The project takes the monument off its pedestal and makes it visually accessible to the public.

Raise Up

2018

Raise Up

2018

National Memorial for Peace and Justice

Montgomery, AL

Artist: Hank Willis Thomas

Nkyinkim

Inspired by a 1960s photograph by Ernest Cole of South African miners, Thomas ’s sculpture, located at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, suggests police suspects lined up at gunpoint. It references police brutality against African Americans and racial bias in the criminal justice system.

2018

National Memorial for Peace and Justice Montgomery, AL

Artist: Kwame Akoto-Bamfo

This sculpture is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Transatlantic slave trade at the entrance of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Its title

“Nkyinkyim” means twisted and references the proverb “life’s journey is twisted.“

Gun Violence Memorial Project

2019

Chicago, IL

Artist: MASS Design Group

Nkyinkim

2018

Nkyinkim

2018

National Memorial for Peace and Justice Montgomery, AL

Artist: Kwame Akoto-Bamfo

This sculpture is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Transatlantic slave trade at the entrance of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Its title

This project is a space of remembrance and healing for individuals impacted by gun violence. It features four houses built of 700 glass bricks, representing the average number of lives taken due to gun violence each week in America. Families can contribute remembrance objects within the glass bricks to honor loved ones that were lost to gun violence.

This sculpture is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Transatlantic slave trade at the entrance of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Its title

“Nkyinkyim” means twisted and references the proverb “life’s journey is twisted.“

2019 Chicago, Artist: This project healing violence. glass bricks, number each week contribute glass bricks lost to Gun Violence

memory references

and Justice the memory Transatlantic slave National Justice. Its title and references twisted.“

Gun Violence Memorial Project

2019

Chicago, IL

Gun Violence Memorial Project

2019

Chicago, IL

Artist: MASS Design Group

Stumbling Stones

Artist: MASS Design Group

Stumbling Stones

1992–present

European and Russian Cities

Artist: Guenther Demnig

Landmark

1995

Stumbling Stones

1992–present

European and Russian Cities

Artist: Guenther Demnig

Known as “Stolpersteine ,” or “stumbling stones,”

70,000 memorial blocks laid in more than 1,200 cities and towns across Europe and Russia each commemorate a victim of the Holocaust outside their last-known freely chosen residence.

Known as “Stolpersteine ,” or “stumbling stones,”

70,000 memorial blocks laid in more than 1,200 cities and towns across Europe and Russia each commemorate a victim of the Holocaust outside their last-known freely chosen residence.

Indianapolis, Artist: In 1968, campaign, news of was dedicated to honor for their to raise eliminate

Violence Memorial Project

Design Group is a space of remembrance and individuals impacted by gun features four houses built of 700 representing the average lives taken due to gun violence America. Families can remembrance objects within the to honor loved ones that were violence.

Landmark for Peace

1995

Indianapolis, Indiana

Artist: Daniel Edwards

Stumbling Stones

1992–present

European and Russian Cities

Artist: Guenther Demnig

In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy visited this site to campaign, however instead had to deliver the news of Dr. King’s assassination. The memorial was dedicated by former President Bill Clinton to honor both Dr. King and the late Mr. Kennedy for their contributions to the nation. It is meant to raise awareness and inspire action to eliminate division and injustice.

Known as “Stolpersteine ,” or “stumbling stones,” 70,000 memorial blocks laid in more than 1,200 cities and towns across Europe and Russia each commemorate a victim of the Holocaust outside their last-known freely chosen residence.

2003

Riverside Artist: This monument Ellison, novel man 1950s, The monument are inscribed biographical Ralph

Landmark for Peace

1995

Indianapolis, Indiana

Artist: Daniel Edwards

Ralph Ellison Monument

2003

Ralph Ellison Monument

2003

Riverside Park NY

Artist: Elizabeth Catlett

This monument honors writer Ralph Waldo Ellison, who is best known for writing the epic novel , about an African American man and the tumultuous civil rights issues of the 1950s, who ultimately recedes into “invisibility. ” The monument features two granite panels that are inscribed with Ellison quotes and a biographical panel.

The monument features two granite panels that are inscribed with Ellison quotes and a biographical panel.

Shoes on the Danube River

2005

Shoes on the Danube River

2005

Budapest, Hungary

Artist: Gyula Pauer

This memorial honors the Jews who were massacred in Budapest during the Second World War. They were ordered to take off their shoes and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The memorial represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

Ralph

2003

Riverside Artist: This Ellison, novel man 1950s, The monument are inscribed biographical

Transformation

As the National Monument Audit highlights, the American monument landscape is constantly changing. Whether by conscious choice (i.e., when societies evolve and their values, priorities, and power dynamics change) or by entropy (i.e. materials degrade and places change), public monuments and memorials in our city can be understood as existing, but ever-changing in their relationship with the public. In addition to the "stump" at the center of the urban circle in which you stand, another clear example of this transformation can be seen in the plinth that once held a pedestal and monument to Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States.

1911

A monument of Jefferson Davis is installed on the neutral ground at the intersection of Jeff Davis Parkway and Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jefferson Davis monument anonymously graffitied with the words "slave owner".

TRANSFORMATION

Jefferson monument graffitied "slave

TRANSFORMATION

Jefferson Davis monument anonymously graffitied with the words "slave owner".

2017

Armed promonument protesters verbally spar with antimonument protesters at Jefferson Davis monument in response to news the statue would soon be removed.

Under heavy police presence, Jefferson Davis statue and pedestal are removed in the early morning on May 11, 2017, leaving only the foundation.

2017

2020

Under heavy police presence, Jefferson Davis statue and pedestal are removed in the early morning on May 11, 2017, leaving only the foundation.

The Jefferson Davis Parkway is renamed for Norman C. Francis, former Xavier University of Louisiana president.

The Jefferson Parkway is for Norman former Xavier University of president.

Davis renamed Francis, Louisiana

2020

The Jefferson Davis Parkway is renamed for Norman C. Francis, former Xavier University of Louisiana president.

police Jefferson Davis pedestal are early 11, 2017, foundation.

2021

Demond Melancon's Big Chief of the Young Seminole Hunter tribe Mardi Gras Indian suit is displayed on the foundation.

2020

The Jefferson Davis Parkway is renamed for Norman C. Francis, former Xavier University of Louisiana president.

2021

Demond Melancon's Big Chief of the Young Seminole Hunter tribe Mardi Gras Indian suit is displayed on the foundation.

The “Freedom Drum” sculpture by artist Rontherin Ratliff and the Level Artists Collective was unveiled during the “Juneteenth Freedom Ride, “ a symbolic bus tour of three new public art works in New Orleans on June 18, 2021.

2021

The “Freedom Drum sculpture by artist Ratliff and the Level Collective was unveiled during the “Juneteenth Freedom Ride, “ bus tour of three art works in New June 18, 2021.

2021

Typologies

The Design Language of Memorials and Monuments

What do you think of when you hear the word “monument”? Chances are you are thinking of something large and iconic made of stone or bronze or some material that projects permanence. Monuments and memorials tell stories—some true, some not—about moments in our collective history. Historically, monuments tell their stories through sculptural figures, materials, borrowed classical languages, or styles. More recently designers have been questioning the established language of monument making toward more experiential and personal forms of commemoration. These drawings attempt to break down the language of monuments over time to understand what design approaches and elements are used in telling stories in public space.

Nola Monument Catalog

How Do We Remember? is a larger question of this research project, extending beyond specific objects and places. The following catalog is divided into the shifting categories of monuments, memorials, symbols, rituals, and informal recognitions. This collection of monuments is an ongoing effort to create a broader frame of reference for artists, architects and the public as we continue to think and create means of marking – and unmarking – significant people, times, and spaces.

In addition to well-know landmarks, this catalog of monuments also showcases familiar rituals (second lines) to lesser-known memorials (remembrance orbs) and a wide spectrum of spaces we commonly pass by but rarely stop to see (Al Davis Park, Newman Bandstand, the Martin Luther King monument). This list is, of course, non-exhaustive and we invited visitors to contribute their own monuments that may not have been included in this collection.

Right: an interior panel from the monument exhibition. When opened, visitors can place red dots to indicate whether they have seen, know, or like the monument on a 5-point Likert scale.

Have

Installation Date: 1856

Installation Date

Location Inscription 1856

Jackson Square at Decatur Street and St. Peters Street

1 Andrew Jackson Memorial

“Major General Andrew Jackson”

CHARTRESST

ST.ANNEST

ST.PETER

FRENCH QUARTER

DECATURST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

NEW ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

Andrew Jackson Memorial

Installation Date

1856

Location

Jackson Square at Decatur Street and St. Peters Street

“Major General Andrew Jackson” “The Union must and shall be preserved”

Bronze Sculpture, Stone Pedestal

Inscription Material(s) Information

The focal point of the central urban square in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, the Jackson equestrian statue was sculpted by Clark Mills. Three other identical statues are located in Washington. D.C., Nashville. Tennessee. and Jacksonville. Florida. Many praised the artist for the manner in which he succeeded in balancing such a mass of metal - 20,000 pounds - without any support or prop beneath. Mills, appearing at the dedication, described his statue as depicting General Jackson on horseback as he reviewed his troops on the morning of January 8, 1815 before the Battle of New Orleans against British forces. The lines present arms in salutation to their commander and Jackson lifting his plumed hat: the customary manner of returning a salute in those days. His high-spirited horse, aware of the next movement, is making strenuous attempts to dash down the line but is restrained by the superb horsemanship of its rider. The statue represented Jackson. who “with a handful of men, proved himself the savior” of New Orleans.

The inscription on the granite base of the monument was cut by General Benjamin Butler’s orders during the federal occupation of New Orleans during the Civil War. In 1830. at a celebration for Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. President Andrew Jackson made the following toast: “Our Federal Union: It must be preserved!” In 1862. General Butler changed Jackson’s famous statement. whether intentionally or unintentionally. to read: “The Union must and shall be preserved.”

Installation Date

Installation Date: 1978

Piazza d’ltalia

FRENCH QUARTER

POYDRAS ST CANALST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

TCHOPITOULAS ST

S PETER ST

Installation Date Location

1978 377 Poydras Street

Piazza d’ltalia

Inscription

None

FONS SANCTI JOSEPHI. HVNC FONTEM CIVES NOVI AVRELIANI TOTO POPULO DONO DEDERUNT.”

Translation: The Fountain of St. Joseph: The citizens of New Orleans have given this to all the people as a gift

Material(s)

Concrete, Plaster, Water, Stone, Marble

Information

The Piazza d’ltalia is a monument to the Italian-American community and their contribution to the City of New Orleans. Designed in 1878 by renowned architect Charles Moore, The Piazza gained public attention as a symbol of late Post-Modernism and is one of Moore’s best-known and inﬂuential works. The Piazza d’Italia is a gathering place for the New Orleans Italian community as well as a symbol of the cultural contribution to architecture that is so unique to the ambiance of New Orleans.

3 New Zion Baptist Church

Installation Date: 1957

Installation Date

Location 1957 2319 Third Street Corner of Lasalle Street and Third Street

New Zion Baptist Church

THIRDST

A.L. DAVIS PARK

LASALLEST

SLIBERTYST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

SECONDST

New Zion Baptist Church

Installation Date

1957

Location

2319 Third Street

Corner of Lasalle Street and Third Street

Inscription

Founded in 1921 by R.C. Matthews and 45 members, New Zion Baptist Church moved to 2319 Third Street in 1949. Here, under the leadership of Rev. A.L. Davis Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) became a permanent organization through the vote of Louisiana activists and ministers on February 14, 1857. The SCLC grew to became a renowned national civil rights organization under the directorship of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Material(s) Information

Various On February 14. 1957. a group of Baptist pastors and activists from across the South met at the New Zion Baptist Church at the earner of Third and LaSalle streets. It was here the group farmed the Southern Leadership Conference. which later that year would rename itself the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Later that year, members elected Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as president, who had been in attendance that day. The organization would coordinate nonviolent action to desegregate bus systems across the South and later would take on bigger issues of segregation nationwide.

4 Chalmette Monument

Installation Date: 1908

Installation Date

CHALMETTE

JEAN LAFITTE PARKWAY

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

ST.BERNARDHIGHWAY

MILIATARY CEMETARYROAD

Chalmette Monument

Installation Date

1908

Location

I Battleﬁeld Road, Chalmette, LA

Chalmette Battleﬁeld and National Cemetery

Inscription

Monument to the memory of the American soldiers who fell in the Battle of New Orleans at Chalmette. Louisiana. January 8th. 1815. Work begun in 1855 by Jackson Monument Association. Monument placed in custody of United States Daughters of 1776 and 1812 an June 14. 1884. Monument and grounds ceded unto the United States of America by the state of Louisiana on May 24. 1807.

Completed in 1808 under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved March 4th. 1807.

Material(s)

Brick Base, Marble Spire

Information

Marking the site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Chalmette Battleﬁeld contains a reconstructed American rampart, an 1830s house, 100-foot-high Chalmette Monument. and outdoor exhibits for self-guided tours. Visitor center ﬁlms and exhibits share the battle and the site’s later history. Ranger talks are offered daily. Chalmette National Cemetery was established during the Civil War and holds more than 14.000 graves of Americans from the War of 1812 to the Vietnam War.

5 Monument to the Immigrant

Installation Date: 1995

Installation Date Location 1995 Woldenberg Park. New Orleans Riverfront

DECATURST

CONTIST N PETER ST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

WOLDENBERG PARK

Monument to the Immigrant

Installation Date Location

Woldenberg Park. New Orleans Riverfront

Inscription

Monument to the immigrant dedicated to the courageous men and women who left their homeland seeking freedom. opportunity and a better life in a new country March I9. 1995 commissioned by the Italian American marching club. Sponsored by private citizens, businesses, and organizations.

Material(s)

Marble

Information 1995

Located by the Steamboat Natchez Station on the Mississippi River, this statute commemorates the cultures that contribute to the vibrant development of New Orleans. The piece depicts a family of immigrants on one side and a female ﬁgure shaped like the front of a ship on the other. The Italian American Marching Club in New Orleans commissioned Franco Alessandrini to sculpt this monument. Alessandrini. an Italian immigrant. came to the United States in the 187Os. making Louisiana his home. The strategic location of this monument along the waterfront adds to its narrative and serves as a powerful reminder to visitors of the immigrants who helped to establish New Orleans.

Thomy Lafon Elementary Memorial Promenade

Memorial Promenade

October 2013

Installation Date Location

Installation Date: 2013

Magnolia Street

Here on this ground are the Locust Grove Cemeteries. Locust Grove I became operational in 1858.

Grove II opened in 1876. These burial grounds marked the ﬁnal resting place for African

Locust

SIXTHST

MAGNOLIAST

SEVENTHST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

A.L. DAVIS PARK

Thomy Lafon Elementary Memorial Promenade

Installation Date

October 2013

Location

Magnolia Street

Between Sixth Street and Seventh Street

Inscription

Here on this ground are the Locust Grove Cemeteries. Locust Grove I became operational in 1858. Locust Grove II opened in 1876. These burial grounds marked the final resting place for African Americans, indigents, immigrants, and victims of epidemics such as the cholera outbreak of 1866. For these pauper cemeteries, officials duly recorded the names, ages, gender, color, and cause of death. The files tell the final stories of those who died from aneurysms, cancer, typhoid fever, and other maladies of the 1860s and 1870s. While the majority of those interred were born in New Orleans, others had roots in faraway locales such as Germany, Prussia, and Ireland. The last burials occurred in 1878 when the Locust Grove Cemeteries were closed due to poor sanitary conditions On these hallowed grounds, the Orleans Parish School Board built three schools dedicated to native son and philanthropist Thorny Lafon. During construction on the site in the 1850s and 1880s, workers found human remains and cypress coffins. In 1885 archaeologists recovered items associated with the burials like buttons and a clothing buckle. Various historical panels on site.

Material(s)

Concrete, Bronze

Information

Thorny Lafon Elementary School was named for Thorny Lafon (1810-1883), a free Creole man who was at one time the wealthiest free Black man in the nation. Lafon was self educated and accumulated his wealth as a merchant. He dedicated much of his time and money to philanthropy and activism and outlined various ﬁnancial donations in his will for after his death. In addition to the school, Lafon founded or donated money to help found Lafon Home for Boys, Charity Hospital, Sisters of the Holy Family, The Tribune, and other charities which helped both blacks and whites of New Orleans.

7 Flood Marker

Installation Date: 2008

NEW ORLEANS RECREATION DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

ODIN ST

FILMORE AVE

FRANKLIN AVE

MITHRA ST

Flood Marker

Installation Date

2008

Location

Neutral ground of Franklin Avenue North of Mithra Street, Gentilly

Inscription

Floodwaters rise and recede, and those who survive mark the event and continue. “Flood-marker continues this in a literal but also conceptual vein. Rather than a small plaque and waterline attached to any wall, this “ﬂood-marker” is an 8,000 lb freestanding and monumental granite block of water.

Material(s)

Carved Granite

Information

The stone is elevated on a series of processional rollers not unlike those that ancient stonecutters used to move large stone blocks into place on the pyramids. The great block of water becomes a nomadic monolith at rest. It has the potential to be moved but only through extreme human effort. The rollers also serve as benches, a place for the public to sit on and reflect. The extreme effort it would take to roll the monolith is no longer needed, the viewer’s job is done, the burden is over and a welldeserved rest is offered as is a place to reflect on this catastrophic event. This sculpture is intended to memorialize the New Orleans Flood of 2005 without overt judgment. The hope and strength of the work are presented in the purposeful carving of a timeless material. This public sculpture is not a literal flood marker; it does not tell us how high the waters rose in any specific part of our city. Instead it is the aesthetic expression of a defining event in time. 1,836 waves are carved into the stone, one wave for each life lost to the water.

Artist: Christopher Saucedo

Sara Lavinia Hyams Memorial Fountain

MAGAZINEST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

AUDUBON PARK

EASTDR

Sara Lavinia Hyams Memorial Fountain

1921

Installation Date Location

6500 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA

Inscription

By bequest Mrs. Chapman H Hyams left her jewels to Audubon and City Parks, the proceeds of which were to build a testimonial of her love for her home city. This fountain was erected March 1821 in a faithful endeavor to realize her wishes. She loved the beautiful and gave that all might enjoy.

Material(s)

Bronze Sculptures, Concrete Base, Wading PooI

Information

The Sara Lavinia Hyams Memorial Fountain in Audubon Park is one in a set of two fountains in the name of Sara Lavinia Hyams, a New Orleanian philanthropist who passed on an estimated $30,000 worth of jewelry for the youth of New Orleans, funds that would later be utilized in the creation of these fountains. The fountains were originally used as shallow pools for children to play in during the hot summer months. In its current, less inviting state, warn by weather and time, the fountain is less frequented.

Palmer Park (Marsalis Harmony Park)

Renamed 2021

9 Palmer Park (Marsalis Harmony Park)

Installation Date Location

Renamed 2021

Installation Date: 1902, Renamed: 2021

Installation Date Location

South Carrollton Avenue and Claiborne Avenue

SCLAIBORNEAVE

SCARROLLTONAVE

NERONPL

UPTOWN/CARROLLTON

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

Palmer Park (Marsalis Harmony Park)

Renamed 2021

Installation Date Location

South Carrollton Avenue and Claiborne Avenue

Inscription

Palmer Park (temporary yard signs noting new name: Marsalis Harmony Park)

Material(s)

Stone Archway

Information

Previously named after infamous secessionist, Pastor Benjamin Palmer, Marsalis Harmony Park is a very large urban park now named after Jazz musician Ellis Marsalis. This name change occurred in the summer of 2021, a year after the social movements that roiled the United States. Currently, the park contains a shaded playground, measured walking path, and a monument to the city of Carrollton, with dedications to its annexation and to WWII veterans of Carrollton. The walking path and monument divide the park into two sections,. excluding the large archway that deﬁnes the entry to the park at the eastern edge where the walking path meets the street.

10 Tomb of the Unknown Slave

2004

Installation Date Location

Installation Date: 2004

St. Augustine Catholic Church 1210 Governor Nicholls Street

On this October 30, 2004, we, the faith community of St, Augustine Catholic Church, dedicate this shrine

LOUIS ARMSTRONG PARK

ESPLANADEAVE

HENRIETTEDELILLEST

GOVERNORNICHOLLSST

NRAMPARTST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

Tomb of the Unknown Slave

Installation Date

2004

Location

St. Augustine Catholic Church

1210 Governor Nicholls Street

Inscription

On this October 30, 2004, we, the faith community of St, Augustine Catholic Church, dedicate this shrine consisting of grace crosses, chains and shackles to the memory of the death in Faubourg Treme. The Tomb of the Unknown Slave is commemorated here in this garden plot of St. Augustine Church, the only parish in the United States whose free people of color bought two outer rows of pews exclusively for salves to use for worship. This St. Augustine/Treme shrine honors all slaves buried throughout the United States and those slaves in particular who lie beneath the ground of Treme in unmarked, unknown graves. There is no doubt that the campus of St. Augustine sits astride the blood, sweat, tears, and some of the mortal remains of unknown slaves from Africa and local American Indian slaves who either met with fatal treachery, and were therefore buried quickly and secretly, or were buried hastily and at random because of yellow fever and other plagues. Even now, some Treme locals have childhood memories of salvage/restoration workers unearthing various human bones, sometimes in concentrated areas such as wells. In other words, the Tomb of the Unknown Slave is a constant reminder that we are walking on holy ground. Thus, we cannot consecrate this tomb because it is already consecrated by many slaves’ inglorious deaths bereft of any acknowledgment, dignity or respect. But ultimately glorious by their blood, sweat, tears, faith, prayers and deep worship of our creator.

Donated by Sylvia Barker of the Danny Barker Estate

Material(s)

Bronze

Information

Coming upon this shrine, as the plaque calls it, a casual visitor will ﬁnd themselves in an historic neighborhood on a quaint street in Treme. The monument is set back from the street and is adjacent to an entrance to the church. The dark steel cross itself is striking partly because it sits against a white stone church. Even more attention-grabbing is the juxtaposition of shackles hanging from various parts of the cross. In contrast to the violence they suggest, they hang like delicate ornaments.

Monument

Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument Installation Date Location

Martin Luther King Blvd. Neutral Ground Between Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. and South Rampart St.

Ground Between Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. and South Rampart St.

CENTRAL CITY

SRAMPARTST

MARTINLUTHERKINGJR.BLVD

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORETHA CASTLE HALEY BLVD

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument

Installation Date

1976

Location

Martin Luther King Blvd. Neutral Ground Between Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. and South Rampart St.

Inscription

“I have a dream. Let it ring from every city. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain. I have I have I have a dream. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin. Free at last free at last thank God almighty I’m free at last. I say to you even though we face the difﬁculties of today and tomorrow I still have a dream.”

Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1876, the City of New Orleans dedicated the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Walk, a pathway created on the Melpomene St neutral ground between Dryades St. and S. Claiborne Ave. The city commissioned artist Frank Hayden to create a sculpture for the foot of the walkway. In 1877, mast of Melpomene St was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and in 1888, the commercial section of Dryades St. was renamed to honor New Orleans Civil Rights Leader Oretha Castle Haley. In 2018, the area surrounding the sculpture was redesigned to improve accessibility and provide historical context.

Sculptor Frank Hayden (1834-1888).

Information

This sculpture was created by Frank Hayden in celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Walk. Hayden was a distinguished professor of ﬁne arts at Southern University and a Xavier University graduate. As an artist, Hayden’s style was contemporary and abstract. The piece symbolizes the coming together of all people in brotherhood and understanding, which was Dr. King’s aspiration. Hayden cast the sculpture in bronze using the 4,000 year old “last wax” technique. The interior features spiral shaped excerpts from Dr. King’s 1863 “I Have a Dream” speech as well as a symbolic bullet hole to represent the assassination of Dr. King in 1868.

Material(s)

Bronze, Concrete, Stone

12 Music Tree

Installation Date

Installation Date: 2004

MOSS ST MOSSST

ORLEANSAVE

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

LAFITTE GREENWAY

BAYOU ST. JOHN

Installation Date

2012

Location

Moss Street and Orleans Avenue

Music Tree

Inscription

Carved images of Snakes, a Fleur-de-lis, a Phoenix-like Eagle, Guitars, a Piano Keyboard, and a Pelican

Material(s)

Tree Carving, Paint

Information

The Music Tree, created by Marlin Miller, pays homage to New Orleans music culture. The original tree that stood at this location survived the water and wind of Hurricane Katrina only to be struck and killed by a bolt of lightning in 2012 during Hurricane Isaac. After being approached by the organizers of the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo, chainsaw artist Marlin Miller was tasked with transforming the tree into the landmark that sits along the bayou today.

13 Plessy V. Ferguson Marker

Installation Date: 1921

Installation Date Location 1921 Homer Plessy Way, New Orleans, LA

NEW ORLEANS CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

HOMER PLESSY WAY

FRANKLIN AVE

ROYAL ST

Plessy V. Ferguson Marker

Installation Date

1921

Location

Homer Plessy Way, New Orleans, LA

Inscription

Homer Plessy was born Homere Patris Plessy on March 17, 1863 in New Orleans. His parents were carpenter (Joseph) Adolphe Plessy and seamstress RosacDebergue, both classiﬁed as people of color. Homer Plessy died on March 1, 1825. He is entombed in St Louis Cemetery No. 1.

John Howard Ferguson was born in 1838 in Martha’s Vineyard. MA. He was appointed Judge in Section A of the Orleans Parish Criminal Court in 1882 and ruled against Plessy in November of the same year. He is buried in Lafayette Cemetery.

Material(s) Information

Bronze, Aluminum, Paint

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1886 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1882 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people. The Supreme Court ruled that a law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between white people and Black people was not unconstitutional. As a result restrictive Jim Crow legislation and separate public accommodations based an race became commonplace.

The Marker in this location, near the train tracks that separate the Marigny from the Bywater neighborhoods of New Orleans, commemorates this case.

14 Allen Toussaint Mural

Installation Date: 2018

Installation Date

ESPLANADEAVE

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

KERLERECST

TREME / LAFITTE

I-10/CLAIBORNEAVE

Allen Toussaint Mural

Installation Date Location

2018 1441 N. Claiborne Avenue. New Orleans, LA, 70116

Inscription Material(s) Information

None Paint, Concrete Wall

Painted by New York-based artist Brendan Palmer-Angell in 2018, this mural of Toussaint was produced through the NOLA Mural Project to honor Toussaint, one of the most important ﬁgures in postwar New Orleans music culture. Toussaint was the man behind Ernie K-Doe’s No. 1 hit “Mother-in-Law,” Jessie Hill’s “Doh Po Pah Doo,” and Chris Kenner’s “I Like it Like That.” He assembled the Meters as a studio band, produced Dr. John’s acclaimed “Right Place. Wrong Time” album, and wrote LaBelle’s smash “Lady Marmalade.” Shortly after Hurricane Katrina he recorded “The River in Reverse,” a collaboration with Elvis Castello, and began performing more frequently. He was on tour in Spain when he passed away unexpectedly at age 77 in 2015.

The mural, in which Toussaint is pictured smiling, wearing a brightly colored suit and tie, is situated near the controversial 1-10 overpass which devastated the economy of a historically black community. The site is now an important location for second line parades, Mardi Gras Indians, and other culturally signiﬁcant celebrations.

15 Gen. G. T. Beauregard Monument

Installation Date: 1915-2017 Beauregard Monument

Installation Date

1815-2017

Location

Entrance to City Park

Junction of Esplanade Avenue and Wisner Boulevard

G.T Beauregard, 1813-1883, General C.S.A. 1861-1865.

NCARROLLTONAVE

CITY PARK

WISNERBLVD

LELONGDR

ESPLANADEAVE

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

BAYOU ST. JOHN

Gen. G. T. Beauregard Monument

Installation Date

1815-2017

Location

Entrance to City Park Junction of Esplanade Avenue and Wisner Boulevard

Inscription

G.T Beauregard, 1813-1883, General C.S.A. 1861-1865.

General Beauregard equestrian statue has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the lnterior, 1888.

Material(s) Information

Bronze Statue, Stone Pedestal

The General Beauregard Equestrian Statue, honoring P. G. T. Beauregard, was located in New Orleans, Louisiana at the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue at the main entrance to City Park, on Beauregard Circle. The statue was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 18, 1888. On December 17, 2015, the New Orleans City Council voted 6-to-l to remove the Gen. Beauregard Statue. The statue’s removal began on May 16, 2017 and was completed on May 17.

After the statue was removed, its pedestal remained in place. On July 25, 2018 after the base of the statue was removed, a time capsule was discovered to exist. The capsule was opened on August 3, 2018 and found to contain Confederate memorabilia, including photos of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, along with ﬂags, currency, medals, ribbons and other paper items related to the city.

16 Congo Square

Installation Date

Installation Date: 2010

LOUIS

ARMSTRONG PARK

NRAMPARTST

ORLEANSST

BASINST

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

FRENCH QUARTER

April 2010

Installation Date Location

Congo Square

Louis Armstrong Park, New Orleans, LA

Inscription

During the late 17th century and well into the 18th centuries, slaves gathered at Congo Square on Sundays and sang, danced, and drummed in authentic West African style. This rich legacy of African celebration is the foundation of New Orleans’ unique musical traditions, including Jazz.

Material(s)

Concrete Pedestal, Bronze Sculpture

Information

Sculpted by Adewale S. Adenle, and funded by the Edward Wisner Donation, the sculpture depicts various people singing and dancing to traditional West African Style drums in the 18th century. All the people depicted have a smile on their faces. However, at their feet you can still see a symbolic chain representing their lack of freedom.

17 Mother River Statue

Installation Date:

Installation

CONVENTION CENTER BLVD

MARDI GRAS WORLD

PORT OF NEW ORLEANS PL

CRESCENT CITY CONNECTION

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

US-90

HENDERSON

US-90

Mother River Statue

Installation Date

2001

Location

1380 Port of New Orleans Place

Inscription

This sculpture represents the power, beauty and history of the Mississippi River. Her outstretched hands symbolize the source of this great waterway which stretches from practically the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico. Her robes and drapes express the Mississippi River’s constant ﬂow through the heartland of the United States until it converges here, creating the great Port of New Orleans. The ﬁgures at her feet represent the numerous tributaries which feed into the Mississippi. The relief sculpture on her base depicts the activities along the river including the men, women and machines of the maritime industry in the state of Louisiana.

This statue is an acknowledgment of the signiﬁcant contribution which the Mississippi River has made and will continue to make to our nation. May this sculpture forever express the power and grandeur of the mighty Mississippi; a salute to the mariners and shore workers making our ports and waterways safe and productive.

Bronze

Material(s) Information

Sculptor Joseph Cleary and architect Arthur Q. Davis contributed to the creation of this statue that stands at 30 feet tall at the mouth of the river.

18 Benito Juarez Statue

Installation Date: 1856

Installation Date Location 1856

Jackson Square at Decatur Street and St. Peters Street

QUARTER

DECATURST ST.PETER

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N PETER ST FRENCH

1856

Benito Juarez Statue

Installation Date Location

Jackson Square at Decatur Street and St. Peters Street

Inscription

“Peace is based on the respect of the right of others.”

BENITO JUAREZ 1806 - 1872

The People of Mexico to the people of the United States of America.

Material(s)

Bronze Sculpture, Stone Pedestal

Information

In 1857, the grassy median of Basin Street was officially labeled the “Garden of the Americas.” Juarez was a fitting choice for a monument in New Orleans. as he fled his home in Mexico to live in New Orleans (where he rolled cigars in a tobacco factory) before returning to rule his country as a well-liked President from 1858 to 1872. Juarez is referred to as the Hero of Mexico. There are statues of Juarez in New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC, and New Orleans. The city received the statue as a gift from the Mexican government.

19 Levee Exhibit Hall

Installation Date: 2015

LONDON AVENUE CANAL

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MIRABEAU AVE

FILMORE AVE

ST. ANTHONY AVE

WILTON DR

WARRINGTON DR

Levee Exhibit Hall

Installation Date

2015

Location

5000 Warrington Drive

Inscription

Levee and Floodwall Failures, August 28, 2005. 1. London Avenue Outfall Canal. East breach (YOU ARE HERE). 2. London Avenue Outfall Canal. West breach. 3. 17th Street Canal Outfall Canal breach. 4. Two IHNC (industrial canal) breaches. 5. Multiple Gulf Intra coastal Waterway breaches. 6. Wholesale disintegration of MR-GD guide levee. Various other informative plaques.

Material(s)

Wood, Steel, Concrete

Information

The Levee Exhibit Hall and Garden is located at the site of the London Outfall Canal breach that occurred after Hurricane Katrina. It serves as a monument to the devastation of the breach and to educate visitors in depth about its lasting consequences. The six informational panels along the hall aim to correct misinformation about the aftermath of the storm: namely, to clarify that the tragedies of the storm were largely a result of underprepared man-made infrastructure. The red brick patio is in the footprint of the house that occupied the lot pre-storm. When the canal breached, it was swept into the middle of the road. There is a demonstration rain garden towards the back of the site to exhibit sustainable storm water strategies. Next door is the Flooded House Museum, another Levees.org project that opened in 2018. In 2021, Rosenthal published the book “Wards Whispered in Water: Why the levees brake in Hurricane Katrina.”

From the artist Sandy Rosenthal (via the Levees.org team):

“I won’t be able to stand out on a soap box forever. These six exhibit boards will be able to tell the story, even if I’m run over by a Mack truck tomorrow.”

Installation Date: 1970, relocated in 2014

Installation Date

Location 1970 (Relocated in 2014)

175 Basin Street, New Orleans, LA

Vietnam War Memorial

FRENCH QUARTER

CANALST

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Vietnam War Memorial

Installation Date

1970 (Relocated in 2014)

Location

175 Basin Street, New Orleans, LA

Inscription

South face: “Than kinh tri an” meaning “Remember with Deep and Sincere Gratitude”

West face: “In memory of the American and Allied Armed Forces who bravely fought and sacriﬁced during the Vietnam War”

North Face: “Than-kinh tri-an nhung chieng-si anh-hung qlvnch sa vi-quoc vong-than de bao-ve chinh-nghia tu-do tai viet-nam”

East face: “This memorial monument was erected in June 1887 by the Vietnamese Veterans Association New Orleans with the ﬁnancial support of the American Bank 6 Trust Co.”

Material(s)

Concrete

Information

This blue marble pyramid memorial was erected by the Vietnamese ex-patriot Veteran community of New Orleans in memory and honor of those who fought on the American side of the Vietnamese War (1855-1875). The memorial is framed with the American ﬂag, the Republic of Vietnam ﬂag, and Louisiana Flag. The inscriptions are shaped into circles dawn each side of the 18’ pyramid. The pyramid form is inspired by traditional memorials found in Vietnam that symbolize everything earning together for one paint of freedom and unity.

Designer: Jimmy Nguyen. President of the Vietnamese Veterans Association in the 1880s

Contractor: Peltier Construction Company of Gretna

21 Rises in the East

Installation Date

Joe W. Brown Memorial Park

Installation Date: 2021

EJ Hill. b. 1885. Los Angeles; lives in Los Angeles. Rises in the East 2021. Multimedia installation.

LAKEFORESTBLVD

READ BLVD

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JOE W. BROWN PARK

Rises in the East

Installation Date

2021

Location

Joe W. Brown Memorial Park

Inscription

EJ Hill. b. 1885. Los Angeles; lives in Los Angeles. Rises in the East 2021. Multimedia installation. Courtesy of the artist and Commonwealth S Council, Los Angeles.

Prioritizing Black leisure in a metropolitan community, EJ Hill’s Prospect.5 contribution takes as its focal point Six Flags Jazzland. a major amusement park in New Orleans East that opened in 2000 and was shuttered ﬁve years later after Hurricane Katrina. Viewing the park’s closure as the loss of space for Black joy, Hill researched what happened to the now defunct theme park and what plans are in store for its future as the city redevelops it. Particularly taken by the Big Easy Ferris Wheel, a massive and iconic structure, Hill used a gondola, or enclosed seat, from this ride as the centerpiece of his sculpture installed in the East: the community most impacted by the park’s closure. In Ferris wheels, Hill ﬁnds a subtle but splendid thrill, elevating riders to rarely accessible heights and offering spectacular vistas in a cyclical up and down loop. Joe W. Brown Park is a space where Black residents continue to play, connect and celebrate it is a point of community pride. This sculpture, Rises in the East, is a monument to the recent history of New Orleans and to the existence, persistence, and necessity of everyday pleasures.

Presented by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.

Material(s)

Painted Iron Girders, Repurposed Gondola

Information

“Rises in the East” is a part of New Orleans’ Prospect 5’s international art exhibition which is on display at various museums and sites around the center of the city. For this sculpture. the artist chose to place it on the outskirts of the city to symbolize the sprawl of the African-American communities most affected by the closure of the amusement park. The ﬂooding and abandonment of “Jazzland,” or Six Flags, is said to be “a huge loss for Black joy.”

22 The Second Line

Installation Date

Late 1800s

Location

Installation Date: Started in the late 1800’s

FRENCH QUARTER

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

NEW

Installation Date

Late 1800s

Location

New Orleans. LA

Inscription

None

The Second Line

Instruments, Colorful Garments, Family, Friends, Love

Material(s) Information

There are two parts to a second line. The First Line is made up of the grand marshal or parade leader, the band, and whomever is being honored. In a jazz funeral, the family and the hearse are part of the First Line. In a wedding, the bride, groom and wedding party take a position up front. The leaders of the parade carry decorated umbrellas, while the other participants shake handkerchiefs while they dance. A brass band plays some beats that gets everyone dancing and moving. You can often spot the second-line by the bright colored suits and banners. Second lines are colorful. loud, and an honor to partake in or witness.

Historically, the African-American community began second lines as neighborhood celebrations. Often used as a form of advertising for organizations that would donate money, or insurances, to freed slaves. New Orleanians then began to use second lines as a ceremony to honor the death of an individual. Often times, the Mardi Gras Indians were included in the procession, wearing infamous pieces of artistic costumery that are now in Museums around New Orleans. Today, second lines are used for a variety of celebrations such as weddings, birthdays, graduations, and any event in need of pageantry and revelry!

Installation Date

relocated in 2014

23 The Doughboy - WWII Memorial Statue

Tulane Avenue & S. Galvez Street The Doughboy - WWII Memorial Statue

1870, relocated in 2014

Installation Date: 1917, relocated in 2014

Installation Date Location

TULANEAVE

UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER NEW ORLEANS

SGALVEZST

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The Doughboy - WWII Memorial Statue

Installation Date Location

1870, relocated in 2014

Tulane Avenue & S. Galvez Street

Inscription

World War I Declared April 6 1917 - 3:00AM. “For freedom of the seas - the world must be safe for democracy - the war to end all wars.” - President Woodrow Wilson Armistice. November 11. 191811:00 AM.

Material(s)

Bronze

Information

Funded by Friends Barracks No. 640. this statue. originally sat in Pershing Park which made up a portion of the current VA campus. It has since been rededicated after the completion of the VA Medical Center. Once plans for the Medical Center came out the Monumental Task Committee led the ﬁght for restoration to save the statue.

Doughboy was a nickname for infantrymen during WWI, typically those deployed to Europe. The name originates from the Mexican War when soldiers were covered in dust during battle which made them look like they were covered in ﬂour. This stance is a common stance within “Doughboy” statues because they are typically mass produced. There are estimated over 100 “Doughboy” statues similar to this one. around the country.

24 Metairie Cemetery

Installation Date: 1872

Installation Date

LAKEWOOD

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NEW ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

PONTCHARTRAIN BLVD

I-10

METAIRIE RD

Installation Date

Metairie Cemetery

Location

Junction of 1-10 and Metairie Road

Inscription

Marie CeIeste Stauffer. June 17th 1827 - August 12th 1883. Blessed are the dead who meet the Lord for they rest from their labors. and their works do follow them. Isaac H. Stauffer Jr. May 21st 1856 - Oct 3rd 1888. Alice Bonfore Stauffer Wife of Henry M. Preston. Sept. 22. 1852 - July 7. 1818. “Thinketh no evil.” William E. Stauffer. June 4. 1866 - Sept. 25 1821. “lntegrity and moral worth unblemished.” Fallon. And Various Others.

Material(s)

Marble, Various

Information 1872

Prior to the Metairie Cemetery, the Metairie Race Course was a horse racing institution in antebellum New Orleans. After the site was used as a Confederate Army camp site during the Civil War, the track was re-purposed into the historic cemetery. We know today, nine Louisiana governors, seven New Orleans’ mayors, and three Confederate generals are buried there. The remains of Jefferson Davis. President of the Confederacy, were kept here for a while before relocation to Richmond, Virginia. Metairie Cemetery has the largest collection of Marble tombs and funeral statuary in the city. One of the most well-known tombs houses the Army of Tennessee, Louisiana Division monument - a monumental tomb of Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. The monument includes two notable works by sculptor AIexander Doyle.

Installation Date: 2010

Installation Date

Location April 2010 Marigny. New Orleans, LA (2016-2018)

in St. Rose. LA

25 Deepwater Horizon Memorial

ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE

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DAUPHINE ST

BURGUNDY ST

MARIGNY

Deepwater Horizon Memorial

Installation Date

April 2010

Location

Marigny. New Orleans, LA (2016-2018)

Now in St. Rose. LA

Inscription

None

Material(s)

Rusted Steel Sculptures, Concrete Bases

Information

In 2016 the city approved the placement of the sculpture, titled “ELEVEN,” for a two-year period that ended in August. The sculpture was meant as a memorial to the workers who were killed when BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

The 11 workers who died on the Deepwater Horizon were Jason Anderson, Aaron Dale Burkeen, Donald “Duck” Clark, Stephen Ray Curtis, Gordon Jones, Roy Wyatt Kemp. Karl Kleppinger Jr.,Keith Blair Manuel, Dewey Revette, Shane Roshto, and Adam Weise.

Kimes’ rust-red men, each of which was welded from roughly 2000 doubloon-sized steel disks, captured the solemnity of the industrial tragedy beautifully. The ﬁgures, which weigh 500 pounds each, were arranged in a circle to symbolize eternity on Elysian Fields Avenue, a busy thoroughfare named for the heavenly resting place of heroes in Greek mythology.

The concept of the artwork was a collaboration between Kimes and Michael Manjarris, the founder of the altruistic Sculpture For New Orleans organization that has placed scores of modernist artworks in public places across the city. ELEVEN was a labor of love, Kimes paid for the fabrication and delivery of the sculpture and Manjarris paid for the installation.

26 Mardi Gras Indian Suit

Installation Date: 2021

Installation Date Location 2021 Norman C Francis Parkway. New Orleans (Street formerly known as Jefferson Davis Parkway)

CANALST

CLEVELANDAVE

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SNORMANC. FRANCIS PARKWAY

BAYOU ST. JOHN

2021

Mardi Gras Indian Suit

Installation Date Location

Norman C Francis Parkway. New Orleans

(Street formerly known as Jefferson Davis Parkway)

Inscription

At the base of the suit there are several small posters that read “The People Are King.”

Material(s)

Concrete Pedestal, Glass Case, Beads, Feathers, Fabric

Information

On Mardi Gras day, February 16, 2021, Demond Melancon, Big Chief of the Young Seminole Hunter tribe, installed his own 2020 Mardi Gras Indian suit encased in glass, on the pedestal that once held a Jefferson Davis statue. The Davis statue was removed in 2017 along with three other Confederate monuments. This installation honored the cultural tradition of Mardi Gras Indian masking as well as raising important questions about what should constitute a monument. In New Orleans, informal markers like this one are important but temporal in nature in that they can be removed by city or state ofﬁcials, property owners, or public opposition.

Installation Date: 1872

Installation Date Location 1872

Place de France, Decatur Street

27 Joan of Arc Statue

FRENCH QUARTER

NPETERSST ST.PHILIPST

DECATURST

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Joan of Arc Statue

Installation Date

1872

Location

Place de France, Decatur Street

Inscription

Joan of Arc, Maid of Orleans 1412 - 1431. A gift from the people of France to the citizens of New Orleans. Lorraine, Orleans, Reims, Roueni.

Material(s)

Bronze Sculpture, Stone Pedestal

Information

France erected the statue in 1872 as a gift to New Orleans. whose namesake, Orleans, was one of the towns Joan of Arc (1412-1431) defended from the English during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The statue displays Joan in a determined, victorious pose, carrying her custom-made banner, which depicted God holding the world with two angels. In front of her are two cannons. The common images of Joan are either of a peasant praying or an armored woman on horseback sometimes surrounded by medieval knights. Yet, Joan’s primary weapon here was the cannon.

FRENCH QUARTER

BIENVILLEST

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New Orleans Holocaust Memorial

Installation Date

2003

Location

Woldenberg Park

Inscription

Steering Committee for The New Orleans Holocaust Memorial: Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn (Chairman), Mac Nathan Jr. (President), Alan Rosenbloom (Campaign Chair), Darryl Berger, Allan L. Katz, Felicia Fuksman, Saundra Katz Levy, Shep Zitler

Artist: Yaacov Agam, Architect: Sizeler Architects, Contractor: Landis Construction Co. 5763-2003

Material(s)

Stone Paving, Steel Panels, Paint

Information

The nine panels of the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial create a total of ten images as the viewer walks around the structure. The viewing area is raised from the riverfront walkway and the circular path up to it creates opportunities for the images to emerge. Near the entrance to the path, there is a separate sculpture that has the names of donors engraved and a plaque recognizing the steering committee, artist and contractor. The monument was dedicated in 2003, while the park was originally constructed for the World’s Fair in 1984.

29 Spirit House

Installation Date: 2002

FAIRGROUNDS

ABUNDANCE ST GENTILLYBLVD

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DE SAIX BLVD

ST. BERNARD AVE

Installation Date

Spirit House

Location

Neutral ground of St. Bernard Avenue

South of Gentilly Boulevard - DeSaix Circle

Inscription

“A monument to those unnamed. unremembered African Americans who contributed greatly to the building of this city: physically. spiritually. and culturally. What is an African American? It is our opinion that an African American is the product of the forced collision of Africans with European culture in the Americas. This collision was the beginning of a new people and culture unlike any other the world had seen before. The symbol chosen by the artists for the African component of this equation is the ‘Shotgun House’ that came to our country from Africa through the Caribbean Islands. Since the dominant European component at the time of the Africans’ arrival was French and Spanish Catholic. the artists chose the ﬂying buttresses of the medieval cathedrals. Therefore. the visual form became a shotgun house on ﬂying buttresses. an urban tabernacle.” - Scott and Payton

Material(s)

Painted Steel

Information 2002

Artists: John T. Scott and Martin Payton with students at St. Leo the Great School and Medard H. Nelson School. Commissioned by Arts Council New Orleans.

POYDRAS ST

CAMP ST

ST. CHARLES AVE LAFAYETTE SQUARE

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Monument to Benjamin Franklin

Installation Date

1926

Location

Lafayette Square

Inscription

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1780. “Save while you are young to spend while you are old. One penny saved is better than two pennies earned” - Poor Richard’s sayings. Dedicated to the people of New Orleans by Henry Wadsworth Gustine of Chicago Illinois. A.D 1826

Material(s)

Bronze Statue, Concrete and Bronze Pedestal

Information

A gift of Henry Wadsworth Gustine, a retired business man of Chicago, who was in the habit of spending his winters in New Orleans. After consultation with ofﬁcials of the Association of Commerce, it was decided that this should be a statue of Benjamin Franklin, to ﬁll the vacant niche left when the other statue of the famous printer-statesman had been moved indoors to the Public Library. A pedestal for the statue was donated by the New Orleans Typothetae and other printers’ organizations.

31 Scrap House

Installation Date: 2008

JOHN CHURCHILL CHASE ST

GAIENNIE ST

CONVENTION CENTER BLVD

LOWER GARDEN DISTRICT

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG US-90

Scrap House

2008

Installation Date Location

1101 Convention Center Boulevard

Between the Mississippi River Heritage Park and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

Inscription

Honoring the people and remembering the events that occurred August 28, 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

Wood, Metal, Steel, Concrete, Other materials

Material(s) Information

Scrap House is constructed from found materials. The house is wood, and the tree is fabricated from re-purposed oil drums. It stands opposite the Convention Center, a reminder of its tenure as ad hoc shelter for many in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The house evokes bath the common New Orleans shotguns, and the ﬁctional house of Dorothy (of Oz) swept up in the destructive powers of nature. The house originally held a light that illuminated at night a beacon for refugees to return home. At times its branches are adorned with Mardi Gras beads.

From the artist Sally Heller: “[before Katrina] we all lived with the sense that there’s a safety net beneath us. I can’t live like that anymore.”

FRERETST

AUDUBONPL

ST.CHARLESAVE

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AUDUBON PARK

Cow Cat Student-Made Memorial

2014

Installation Date Location

Tulane University. Arts Quad

Cow Cat. January 14. 2017

Inscription Material(s)

Red Painted Cat-House, Beads, Stone Plaque, Cards, Flowers

Information

Mickey or “Cow Cat” as he was commonly known, was found dead on Saturday, January 14. 2017. Professor Richard Campanella broke the news on Twitter after discovering the cat’s body on his way to his ofﬁce. “I knew Cow Cat as well as anyone, because my corner ofﬁce in the Richardson Building made us literally next-door neighbors for many years (despite that the famously indifferent feline declined the hospitality of kindly students who constructed for him a dog house),” Campanella said. “I long enjoyed watching Cow Cat patrol his little kingdom, just as I enjoyed watching generations of Tulane students take time out of their busy schedules to share some moments with this furry friend.” The small red house that was constructed for Cow Cat may have been moved to Weatherhead Hall where another campus feline, a black and white cat named Boots, will enjoy it.

33

Enslaved Africans Marker

Installation Date: 2019

Installation Date Location

Unknown The intersection of Morgan Street and Bouny Street Algiers - Atop the levee, embedded in the ground.

BOUNYST SEGUINST MORGANST

ALGIERS POINT

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

Unknown

Enslaved Africans Marker

Installation Date Location

The intersection of Morgan Street and Bouny Street Algiers - Atop the levee, embedded in the ground.

Inscription

“In the 1720s, at a spot of land now eroded by the river, stood the barracks where enslaved Africans from the Senegal-Gambia region, were held before being ferried across the river to the slave auctions. Early Algiers Paint was also the home of the slaughterhouse and the powder magazine for New Orleans.”

Material(s)

Bronze

Information

After the founding of New Orleans in 1718 the area across the river, now Algiers, became a plantation and holding area far slaves after their kidnapping from West Africa. Slaves would be held in barracks before being ferried across the river to be sold at auction.

34 Jefferson Memorial

Installation Date: 1923

Installation

1STST

HUEYP.LONGAVE

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

GRETNA

Installation Date

Jefferson Memorial

Location

1923 Huey P. Long Avenue and First Street

Inscription

Jefferson Memorial

Material(s)

Brick Archway, Marble Details

Information

The Jefferson Memorial Arch was built in 1823. The arch was erected as a memorial to all war veterans from Jefferson Parish. The inscribed names include veterans from the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. The arch is located between the Gretna City Hall building and the Mississippi River.

35 Mass Lynching Plaque

Installation Date: 2020

Installation Date

Location

The corner of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard

Inscription 2020

Between July 24 to 27, 1800, white mobs unleashed a campaign of racial terror throughout the city

CENTRAL CITY

SRAMPARTST

ORETHA CASTLE HALEY BLVD

MARTINLUTHERKINGJR.BLVD

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

Mass Lynching Plaque

Installation Date

2020

Location

The corner of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard

Inscription

Between July 24 to 27, 1800, white mobs unleashed a campaign of racial terror throughout the city of New Orleans that resulted in the lynching of at least seven Black people. Violence began after police tried to arrest Robert Charles, a 35-year oId Black man. During this era, Black people carried a heavy presumption of guilt and faced hostile suspicion, whether evidence implicated them or not. On July 23, white policemen confronted Mr. Charles while he was seated peacefully on a doorstep. Mr. Charles objected, struggled, and ultimately fled after multiple exchanges of gunfire, leaving two officers dead on July 24. In response, thousands of armed white people, shouting, “Kill the Negroes.” gathered at Robert E. Lee Circle seeking to attack Black people. Over several days, white mobs shot, beat, and killed Black people in a terror crusade to maintain white supremacy. In the first 48-hours of the attack, police failed to intervene as the mobs abducted, killed, and maimed Black people, and destroyed the Thomy Lafon SchooI,leaving no public education for Black children in New Orleans after the fifth grade for nearly 20 years. On July 27, policemen and deputized civilian militia discovered Mr. Charles at 1208 Saratoga Street and brutally killed him after hours of gunfire exchange. In the four day massacre, white mobs lynched several Black people, including Hannah Mabry, a wife and mother. No one was ever convicted for their deaths.

Material(s)

Metal Panel with raised lettering

Information

This plaque, installed under the leadership of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell honors those who died due to mass lynching in New Orleans. This is one of a series of textual plaques erected by the city in an effort to recognize the history of racial injustice in New Orleans. This landmark stands adjacent to the New Orleans Martin Luther King Jr. Monument located in Central City.

36 A.L. Davis Park

Installation

WASHINGTONAVE

CENTRAL CITY

THIRDST

LASALLEST

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ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

A.L. Davis Park

1979

Installation Date Location

2600 Lasalle Street

Carner af Washington Avenue and Lasalle Street

None Various

Inscription Material(s) Information

A.L. Davis Park is a 5-acre city-owned park with all-purpose grass ﬁelds, tennis courts, basketball courts, an outdoor pool, and a children’s playground. The park was established in 1858 as Shakespeare Park after Mayor Joseph Shakespeare until it was renamed in 1878 for Reverend A.L. Davis, New Orleans’ ﬁrst African-American city council member, pastor of the New Zion Baptist Church (located across the street) and the SCLC’s (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) founding vice president. The park served as an important location for many events during the Civil Rights movement. It was the starting paint for the 1860 Dryades Street Boycott and the bus pick up for the Freedom Riders. The site is still important in contemporary New Orleans culture, as an important stop on Second Lines and as the site of the annual Uptown Super Sunday event when Mardi Gras Indians gather to celebrate.

Sentinel (Mami Wata) Sculpture

(Mami Wata) Sculpture

HOWARDAVE

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT

ANDREW HIGGINS BLVD

ST.CHARLESAVE

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Sentinel (Mami Wata) Sculpture

Installation Date

2022

Location

Former Lee Circle, currently Harmony Circle

Inscription

None

Material(s)

Bronze

Information

According to ArtNews.com, “Leigh’s bronze sculpture aims to undo the legacies of power that the Robert E. Lee statue represented, and was specially designed for the Prospect 5 and the Circle. The sculpture depicts a snake wrapped around a slender female body whose form resembles a spoon. The design is inspired by various cultures of African diaspora that mix and ﬂourish in New Orleans. Mami Wata is a water deity shared by many African cultures, while the spoon shape is an important symbol of status in the Zulu culture.”

Artistic directors of this 2021 Prospect New Orleans triennial Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi wrote about placement of the piece: “Ultimately, [the artist Simone Leigh] felt and we agreed, that because the original placement of the Robert E. Lee atop the pedestal was one of power and domination-the statue loomed over the city, symbolizing the tyranny of white supremacy-that her work should be closer to the level of the individual.”

Escalante-De Mattei, Shanti. “Simone Leigh Statue on Former Site of Robert E. Lee Monument in New Orleans Due to Come down in August.” ARTnews.Com, ARTnews.com, 21 July 2022, www.artnews.com/art-news/news/simone-leigh-statue-replaces-robert-e-lee-monument-new-orleans-1234616508/.

38 Newman Bandstand

Installation Date

Installation Date: 1921

The South end of Audubon Park, near the lagoon

MAGAZINEST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

CALHOUN ST

AUDUBBON PARK TRAIL

AUDUBON PARK

Installation Date Location

Newman Bandstand

1921 The South end of Audubon Park, near the lagoon

Inscription

Dedicated to music. In memory of Isidore Newman. Rebecca Kieffer Newman, 1921 Newman bandstand, restored in 2017 by the Eugenie H. & Joseph Jones Family Foundation, to celebrate the life of Eugenie Jones Huger, 1932-2011 “And the night shall be ﬁlled with music, and the cares that infest the day, shall fold their tents like the Arabs, and as silently steal away.”

Material(s)

Concrete

Information

The bandstand is an elliptical concrete structure with a subtly domed roof. It is landscaped with bushes and cycads, and surrounded with red brick paving. Built in 1921, it is named for Isidore and Rebecca Newman, prominent New Orleans philanthropists in the early 20th century. The Newmans donated to Audubon Park after the Cotton Exposition to put in a bandstand, which was built after Isidore’s death. Inscriptions name the Newmans on one side and reference a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem on the other.

39 NOLA AIDS Memorial

Installation Date: 2008

Installation Date Location 2008 Washington Square at Elysian Fields and Dauphine

ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE

DAUPHINE AVE

FRENCH QUARTER

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

ROYAL ST MARIGNY

NOLA AIDS Memorial

2008

Installation Date Location

Washington Square at Elysian Fields and Dauphine

Inscription

New Orleans AIDS Memorial: Dedicated on the occasion of World AIDS Day, 2008. T o remember. honor, and celebrate; to heal. educate, and empower, to provide hope, compassion and dignity. “When do the dead die? When they are forgotten.” - Laura Esquivel

Material(s) Information

Granite, Brick, Glass

The remainder of the plaque celebrates “Major Donors,” “Artists and Architects,” “Supporters,’’ “Friends,” and “Buddies.” “Generous Supporters are celebrated in a separate granite slab at grade, and the bricks making up the ground in front of the monument are inscribed with the names of individuals who died from AIDS complications and those who are recognized as leaders in ﬁghting the epidemic. The faces are casts of 34 locals living with HIV/ AIDS, who look out over those whose names are engraved in brick. The site of Washington Square was chosen because of the disproportionate tragedy felt in the Marigny due to HIV/ AIDS.

Artists: Tim Tate, Mitchell Gaudet Brian Borello, Erica Larkin, Mark Thomas, Sizeler Thompson Brown.

40 The Warehouse Tribute Park

Installation Date: 2020

Installation Date Location 2020 Tchoupitoulas Street and Race Street

EUTERPE ST

LOWER GARDEN DISTRICT

RACE ST

RELIGIOUS ST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

TCHOPITOULAS ST

2020

The Warehouse Tribute Park

Installation Date Location

Tchoupitoulas Street and Race Street

Inscription

“The Warehouse was the greatest music venue on the planet” - Andy Powell. Wishbone Ash. “To be a band like us, there are a few choices we have to make when we go into a town for the ﬁrst time. Either we can come and play at the local Armory ... with 15.000 kids ... or we get a chance to come in and play a place like this - if it still happened to have a place like this. It feels totally different to have people HERE. instead of like 400 yards away.” - Peter Townshend, The Who.

Material(s)

Brick, Concrete, Iron, Ceramic Tile

Information

The Warehouse was a popular Rock music venue transformed from a 1850s cotton warehouse that was located at 1820 Tchoupitoulas Street and operated for 12 years from 1870 to 1882, at which time the building was demolished. The memorial consists of 3 walls of brick and steel I-beams. recalling the exposed brick walls of the venue. There are also pavers along the paths leading to the central space that denote both donors and concerts/events that were held in the space. Perpendicular to the steel and brick walls that hold tile murals dedicated to the events and space itself are steel and wood benches.

Milton H. Latter Memorial Library, presented to the New Orleans Public Library board by Mr. And

Mrs. Harry Latter in memory of their beloved son, Milton, who gave his life at Okinawa.

ISIDORE NEWMAN SCHOOL

ST.CHARLESAVE

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

Milton H. Latter Memorial Library

Installation Date

1848

Location

5120 St. Charles Avenue

Inscription

Milton H. Latter Memorial Library, presented to the New Orleans Public Library board by Mr. And Mrs. Harry Latter in memory of their beloved son, Milton, who gave his life at Okinawa. April 27, 1845

Material(s)

Stone Structure, Terracotta Roof, Various

Information

Milton H. Latter Memorial Library is a public library in the New Orleans public library system, which is housed in a mansion on an estate built in 1807. It is named for the son of the last owner of the house, killed in service in WWII. The Latters had last their only son, Milton, on Okinawa during World War II and they were seeking a memorial for him. Immediately after purchasing the mansion, they donated it to the city to be used as a branch of the public library. The Milton H. Latter Memorial Library opened its doors in 1848 and remains open today. The Library sits on a city block on St. Charles Ave, surrounded by landscaping and gardens with walkways meandering throughout the site.

The city preserved the formal rooms on the first fioor as reading rooms and converted the upper floors into book stacks. The exterior of the home has remained virtually unchanged since 1807. In the 1880’s, the home underwent restoration and in 1876, the Latter library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Installation

FRENCH QUARTER

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

Washington Artillery Monument

Installation Date

1976

Location

700 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA

Inscription

Washington Artillery Park

Material(s)

Steel Cannon, Granite Base

Information

This monument honors those that fought in the Mexican-American War. The militia dates back to 1838, though same sources understood that this date might just be a convenient one to point to. Other websites and sources claimed that it was one of the ﬁrst militias to be recruited into the Confederate Army during the “war between states”. At one point the militia renamed itself ‘The Native American Militia’ with tag lines such as “Try Us.”

Installation Date: 1943

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

IBERVILLE

1843

Installation Date Location

Canal Street and Elk Place

Molly Marine

Inscription

Molly Marine, November 10, 1843, “free a marine to ﬁght.”

Rededicated July I, 1866 in honor of women Marines who serve their country in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps.

Material(s)

Concrete (Granite & Marble fragments)

Information

Sculpted by Enrique Alferez, famed Mexican artist who wanted to join the Marines but was unable to because of his immigrant status. Cement from granite and marble chips were used due to wartime restrictions on Bronze. Alferez also created other sculptures throughout the city including the New Orleans Botanic Gardens.

Installation Date: 2011

Installation Date Location 2011

44 Ghost Bike Memorials

FAIRGROUNDS

ESPLANADEAVE

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

MYSTERY ST MAUREPAS ST

Ghost Bike Memorials

Installation Date

2011

Location

Esplanade Avenue and Mystery Street

Inscription

(Ghost bikes are often accompanied by signs stating the name and age of the bicyclist, as well as the date of the accident, afﬁxed on the poles to which they are locked)

Material(s)

Bicycle, White Paint, Flowers, Other Memorabilia

Information

Ghost bikes are installed by self-organized members of communities to memorialize a person who was killed while riding their bicycle by a motorist. They exist in several cities in the US and the world. Members of the community ﬁnd a broken bike, spray it white, and lock it to a post near the place where the cyclist was killed. The same community members, or often family members of the cyclist, maintain and decorate the ghost bike. The ghost bike featured here is installed where a drunk driver killed two people and injured several other cyclists after a Mardi Gras parade in 2018.

Installation Date:1957

45 Statue of Simon Bolivar

IBERVILLE

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

1957

Statue of Simon Bolivar

Installation Date Location

1117 Canal Street

Inscription

Simon Bolivar

Material(s) Information

Bronze Statue, Concrete, and Stone Base

“None of these has been more strong and enduring than that which exists with our friends and neighbors through the Americas. Politically, We are joint products of the great age of revolution and of a common thirst for independence. Simon Bolivar was a Ieader who could consolidate a thousand people yearning for political separation into a crusade for independence.” - Former New Orleans Mayor Chep Morrison.

Simon Bolivar Ied Latin America to independence from Spain. Made from Italian marble and surrounded by iron highlights to symbolize Venezuela’s natural resources, This monument is surrounded by 7 ﬂag poIes - one for each of the countries freed by Bolivar - along with the US ﬂag. In the 1860s, statues of Benito Juarez and Francisca Morazan were added along the neighboring neutral ground.

46 Calhoun Street

Installation Date

Installation Date: unknown

Uptown New Orleans

Connecting Tchoupitoulas to Fountain-bleau and St. Charles at Claiborne

TULANE UNIVERSITY

PALMER AVE

WILLOWST

CALHOUN ST

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY

NEW ORLEANS

FRERETST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

Calhoun Street

Unknown

Installation Date Location

Uptown New Orleans

Connecting Tchoupitoulas to Fountain-bleau and St. Charles at Claiborne

Inscription

Calhoun

Material(s)

Aluminum with Reﬂective Coating

Information

Calhoun St. is named for former United States Vice President John C. Calhoun. a supporter of slavery in the Antebellum south and leading member of South Carolina’s secession from the Union.

47 Upstairs Lounge Marker

FRENCH QUARTER

CHARTRESST

IBERVILLEST CANALST

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

2003

Upstairs Lounge Marker

Installation Date Location

604 Iberville Street

New Orleans, LA

Inscription

“At this site on June 24. 1873. in the Upstairs Lounge, these thirty-two people lost their lives in the worst ﬁre in New Orleans. The impact went far beyond the loss of individual lives. giving birth to the Lesbian. Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights movement in New Orleans.”

Material(s)

Bronze

Information

On June 24, 1973, the famed gay club, the UpStairs Lounge (located on the corner of Chartres and Iberville Streets) attracted 110 patrons for a typical night out. Early in the evening, a fire broke out and tore through the building. Lack of safety exits and a large amount of pedestrian traffic hindered emergency vehicles from providing aid, leading to 32 deaths and the 15 injuries. The instigator of the attack has never found, but the event was considered to be an attack. This event was deadliest known attack on a gay club in U.S. history until the 20l6 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. The plaque was created for the 30th anniversary of the fire and lists the victims of the incident. The plaque was stolen in late April 2024.

Tribute to Latin American Workers

Latin American Workers

ST BYWATER

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

ORLEANS MONUMENT CATALOG

CHARTRES ST

Tribute to Latin American Workers

2018

Installation Date Location

End of Crescent Park near the Piety Street entrance in the Bywater

Inscription

Este monumento es un tributo a Los T rabajadores Latinoamericanos quienes a yudaron a reconstruir la ciudad de Nueva Orleans desupues del Hurican Katrina 28 de Agosto 2005. This monument is a tribute to the Latin American workers who helped to rebuild the city of New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina august 28th, 2005.

Gift of Juan Jorge Gershanik and family

Material(s)

Bronze Sculpture and Marble Pedestal

Information

This monument is a tribute to the Latin American Workers who helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The depiction of the Latin American workers was prioritized to look as realistic as possible (facial features and clothing) and represent men and women.

“I thought this will be the message that I need to have, that this will be something that the children for generations to come.” -Dr. Gershanik, a local doctor who commissioned the monument

49 WPA City Park Bridge

Installation Date: 1936

Installation Date Location 1936 Diagonal Drive, City Park

MAGNOLIADR

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

I-610

ZACHARY TAYLOR DR

DIAGONALDR

CITY PARK

WPA City Park Bridge

Installation Date

1936

Location

Diagonal Drive, City Park

Inscription

WPA 1836

USA I WORK PRDGRAME I WPA

Material(s)

Concrete

Information

A national public works project in the 1930s. entitled Works Progress Administration (WPA), is responsible for a large variety of the sculptural elements within City Park. including a series of concrete bridges. This particular bridge depicts a relief of the ideal workers. constructing only with their tools and hands -- a direct reference to the WPA works within City Park that utilized no machinery.

Installation Date: 1919

Installation Date Location 1919

Audubon Park at St. Charles Avenue

50 Gumbel Memorial Fountain

ST.CHARLESAVE

Have you SEEN this monument? no yes

Did you KNOW what it memorialized? no yes

Do you LIKE this monument? no yes

AUDUBONPL

AUDUBON PARK

Gumbel Memorial Fountain

Installation Date

1919

Location

Audubon Park at St. Charles Avenue

Inscription

In memory of Simon and Sophie Gumbel

Material(s) Information

Stone Base, Bronze Sculpture, Water

The fountain was dedicated to the Gumbels by their daughters, Beulah Joseph and Cora Moses. Austrian sculptor Isidore Konti designed the fountain to represent the meeting of air and water. The ﬁgure is standing on a globe which touches on the Gumbel’s international origins. Her arm reached towards the sky. symbolizing the interaction with air. There is an element of playfulness with a bird resting on her other hand and the surrounding sculptures of boys jumping over turtles. The fountain is placed in the Ogden Entrance Pavilion that grounds and centralizes the fountain with landscaping and benches.

Simon Gumbel was an immigrant to New Orleans from Bavaria in 1846 when he was 14 years old. In New Orleans, he was the ﬁrst man to build and conduct a cottonseed oil mill. When he died in 1808, he was the number one taxpayer in New Orleans and a millionaire. Simon also was a central member of the Jewish community. Sophie Gumbel was born in 1844 in New Orleans to immigrants from Bavaria and married into the Gumbel family. After her death, her children started the Sophie L Gumbel Home to provide education and job training to girls will mental disabilities.

Reflection: Redefining Monuments as Apparatus of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Architecture and the built environment do not exist in a vacuum but are inextricably intertwined with society. The production and consumption of architecture are embedded within the socio-cultural dynamics of our world and therefore are inevitably part of an architect’s responsibility. At Tulane University School of Architecture, we firmly believe in the capacity of design to contribute to positive change in society and the world. At the same time, we also acknowledge that design has also been instrumental in the oppression and disenfranchisement of various segments of our population. Thus, we have seen how the built environment can be used as an instrument of empowerment or an apparatus of marginalization over time.

We also acknowledge that equity, diversity, and inclusion must be embedded in the educational system of architects and designers, to better equip future leaders in the built environment to become instruments of empowerment rather than of marginalization. This research study “Public Space and Scrutiny: Examining Urban Monuments through Social Psychology”, generously funded by the SOM Foundation, embodies the commitment of Tulane School of Architecture to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion. Aimed to interrogate ideas of monuments and memorialization as constructs enmeshed within diverse contexts and histories, the project

necessarily embeds itself within the goals of advocating for social justice, multicultural understanding, and inclusive community engagement. Through the lens of the New Orleans context, the project offers many questions: How can we reconfigure the understanding of monuments and memorials to the everchanging socio-cultural dynamics of the places they are situated? How might we understand the monuments’ impact within the communities they are embedded within? How might monuments become apparatuses of equity, diversity, and inclusion?

As a collaboration between the School of Architecture and the School of Science and Engineering’s Department of Psychology, through Professors Tiffany Lin, Emily Taylor-Welty, and Lisa Molix, the project emphasizes the need for an interdisciplinary approach in addressing complex social problems. Disciplinary boundaries and silos should be broken down as multidisciplinary teams collaborate on effecting solutions. There is a need to reframe even the ways we are educating future leaders of society by breaking down traditional boundaries of knowledge production. Instead of disciplinary territories, we need to be humble in accepting what we don’t know and strive to work with other experts to enhance what our strengths are as architects and designers. Subsequently, the methods for producing, constructing, and consuming of the built environment would need to expand and be more inclusive.

This project also exemplifies the ways that architects should become cognizant of the important role of architecture in the formation of identities, memories, and histories in our society. Through the accompanying courses at Tulane, the students were encouraged to discover architecture as part of a larger system that requires a thorough and sensitive understanding of the actors, agents, institutions, policies, and dynamics that continually shape and inform the built environment. By understanding how monuments work within the landscape of memories, the project also underscores how the built environment should not be construed as neutral and inert vessels but rather as dynamic processes that are continually negotiated, mediated and transformed.

We hope that the research and publication will catalyze future investigations on the role of the architecture in contributing to equity, diversity, and inclusion in society. With the current political climate where equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives have been weaponized and vilified, it is incumbent for us as an educational institution to persevere in advocating for a critical understanding of what it means to fight for social and environmental justice. While there is still much to be done, this research proves that through a conscientious, sensitive, and

active effort in acknowledging and addressing the inequities and oppression in the built environment, we might be able to re-envision a future for everyone that is more equitable, diverse, sustainable, and inclusive.

Edson Cabalfin

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, former Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Betty Washington at the How Do We Remember exhibition opening.

Afterward

The scholars at the helm of this project, “Public Space and Scrutiny: Examining Urban Monuments through Social Psychology” and its accompanying publication, Public Space & Monuments, come together from different disciplines to explore the genesis and evolution of monuments, guiding young minds to consider how they come to be and why. These researchers led the students in grappling with the impacts of these various monuments, and their legacies, on the communities that encounter them in everyday life. While this type of inquiry may be seen by some, in the political and cultural climate of 2025, as academic navel-gazing or outright brainwashing, the work undertaken by the students and their professors gets to the heart of an important question that citizens of all civilizations have been contending with for centuries: how does history get written?

Many of the monuments treated by the students in this text serve as a conversation point in the ongoing debate over who writes the history of a space and what that history includes. While coverage of the fights over the removal of Confederate monuments has regularly appeared on local and national news broadcasts during the time that this project was undertaken, the proliferation of monuments around New Orleans, both recognizable and obscure, removed or in-place, represents an

ongoing negotiation about the truth of our collective past. In addition to cataloging a fraction of the hundreds of monuments throughout the city, this archive also pushes not only the involved students but also the viewer of the exhibition (and this publication) to remember a moment in time when certain monuments became reviled in our national consciousness, erased from our physical spaces, and then among some people, celebrated once again. Engagement with the content of How Do We Remember? promotes the viewer to contend with the memories of this particular political and social reality, an activity that is as important as the the archive itself.

Institutions of higher education are under attack from many sides in our present moment. The administration leading the country at the time of this publication sees universities as enemies that exist to incubate unwelcome ideologies. Many debt-burdened and disaffected students and parents see American universities as high-priced finishing schools that overpromise and underdeliver. And technology companies and private equity firms see them as profit centers, a place to trial Artificial Intelligence and other tech projects or to dump money in search of cash returns. In stark contrast to these complaints the thoughtful work in this publication reminds us of what higher education can do and be at its best. In an age where young people experience much of

The entrance to the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park, where the statue of Confederate General Beauregard once stood. Captured by the author on a daily walk in 2025.

their lives mediated through a digital device, the work of the course pushed students into the physical world, requiring them to explore, in real life, physical manifestations of past events and to engage with community members with sometimes uncomfortable opinions of or reactions to the very work that the students were seeking to accomplish.

The collaborative nature of the project, bringing together researchers from the Schools of Science and Engineering and Architecture and the Built Environment, along with students from a variety of disciplines, demonstrates that the pursuit of true understanding must come from a constant interrogation of our own methods of inquiry and engagement. Seeking knowledge, the hallmark mission of all universities, is not about a fixed end point. No student or professor or researcher envisions themselves crossing a finish line, with absolute truth the trophy they collect on the other side. Rather, as embodied by the exhibition, How Do We Remember?, we must test and challenge our own assumptions and open ourselves to an awareness of how meaning can change based on who makes it.

Emily Capdeville Visiting Assistant Professor Global Programs Faculty Leader

ENDNOTES

1. Derek H. Alderman and Jordan P. Brasher, “Memorials and Monuments,”in International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2nd ed. (Elsevier, 2020), 39–47.

2. Melissa Block, “Push to Remove Confederate Monuments Opens Debate on Other Honored Historical Figures,” National Public Radio, July 2, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/07/02/886503966/push-toremove-confederate-monuments-opens-debate-on-other-honoredhistorical-fi.

3. CJ Hunt, The Neutral Ground (PBS, 2021) film, 82:00, https:// vimeo.com/ondemand/theneutralground.

4. National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, “Demographics,” 2020 NCARB by the Numbers (NCARB, 2020), 59, https://www.ncarb.org/sites/default/files/2020NBTN_1.pdf.

5. Felicia Pratto, Atilla Çidam, Andrew L. Stewart, Fouad Bou Zeineddine, María Aranda, Antonio Aiello, Xenia Chryssochoou et al., “Social Dominance in Context and in Individuals: Contextual Moderation of Robust Effects of Social Dominance Orientation in 15 Languages and 20 Countries,” Social Psychological and Personality Science 4, no. 5 (2013): 587–99.

6. Helen A. Neville et al., “Color-Blind Racial Ideology: Theory, Training, and Measurement Implications in Psychology,” The American Psychologist 68, no. 6 (2013): 455–66, doi:10.1037/ a0033282.

7. B. Ann Bettencourt and Lisa Molix, “Satisfaction with Health Care and Community Esteem among Rural Women,” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 3, no. 1 (2003): 1–14.

8. Richard Campanella, “Today’s Lafitte Greenway Was Spanish New Orleans’ Carondelet Canal,” Times-Picayune, November 17, 2017.

11. NCARB, “Demographics,” 59.

12. “National Monument Audit,” Monument Lab, accessed January 9, 2023, www.monumentlab.com/audit.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was sponsored by generous support from the SOM Foundation. Special thanks to the School of Architecture and Built Environment, and the Department of Psychology for supporting interdisciplinary research at Tulane University. We would also like to acknowledge our student collaborators from the seminar, studio, and lab for their thoughtful engagement in this research project.

Contributors | Consultants

Jha D Amazi

Rachel Breunlin

Emily Capdeville

Jose Cotto

Mart Deceuninck

Kris Graves

C.J. Hunt

Bryan Lee

Suzanne Mobley

Justin Garrett Moore

Pace Engineering

Dr. Ibrahima Seck

Water Zehner

Friends of the Lafitte

Greenway

Collaborators

Rachel Abrahams

Leah Bohatch

Yardley Borton

Hayden Boyce

Zachary Braaten

Hayley Burroughs

Tahlor Cleveland

Andrea Dan

Alex DiSimone

Kareem Elsandouby

Lovia Feliscar

Paola Foresti Pinto

Joelle Friedman

Laura Gonzalez Rosenberg

Vivien Hartin

Camille Kreisel

Seth Laskin

Mei-Ling Malecki

Talazia Manuel

Gabriella Maze

Andres Eduardo Perez Yepez

Malina Pickard

Leonardo Sequerra Koogan

Breitman

Bruno Soria

Miriam Taylor

Tiger Thepkanjana

Joseph Townsend

William Trotter

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TIFFANY LIN,

AIA

Associate Professor of Architecture

Lin’s research, practice, and teaching are rooted in the belief that design can be a unifier of human experience. By overcoming personal prejudices to see the world through the process of abstraction (i.e., deducing what is essential), the design process can be a key to embracing diversity—of ideas, of art, architecture, culture, people, and of each other. Instead of its popular role of picturing impossibility, Lin works with abstraction as the mechanism for imagining multiple possibilities, promoting open, flexible, empathetic minds. As the Director of the Design program at Tulane, she hopes to cultivate future-oriented skills such as creativity, empathy, and selfawareness, to underscore the importance of human discernment in the age of automation and artificial intelligence.

LISA MOLIX, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychology

Molix’s program of research uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate relationships between psychosocial and behavioral factors (e.g., perceptions of discrimination, empowerment, social identity, intergroup interactions), contextual factors (e.g., access to resources, community location, blight, climate/values), and overall health outcomes. Molix utilizes expertise in both basic longitudinal and community-based participatory learning methodologies to: (1) elucidate how and why intergroup stress impacts overall wellness in members of marginalized groups, (2) identify both maladaptive and adaptive strategies that members of marginalized groups employ to cope with intergroup stress, (3) create, test, and implement community-based interventions, and (4) create, test, and implement education programs for healthcare students and professionals to improve their intergroup competence and the quality of the healthcare service.

EMILIE TAYLOR WELTY, AIA

Associate Professor of Architecture

Welty’s research and practice as an architect bridge the engagement practices and equity focus of public interest design with the design-build model of project delivery. In an academic setting this entails leading studio based design-build projects that address local issues of social justice through design. Working with Tulane’s Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design, Welty has led over thirty applied research projects. The community based work of the Small Center includes fifteen years of award winning and transformative projects such as Grow Dat Youth Farm and Parisite Skatepark. As the Director of the Architecture program at Tulane, Welty works to refine community engagement processes to welcome in more voices and stakeholders, focusing on issues of social justice and equity through design.