By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – “I don’t think we should throw away history just because we don’t like it,” says Aaron Bryant. “And that’s what it’s come down to.”
Bryant, a curator at the National African American Museum of History and Culture at the Smithsonian, shared his expertise with an Illinois House task force on statues and monuments. He says history, in large part, belongs to who gets to write it.
He cites as an example Baltimore, where he lives. Bryant told the task force the area produced Civil War soldiers at a ratio of three-to-one, favoring the Union. The statues of Civil War heroes, Bryant goes on to say, have that ratio reversed.
Illinois is grappling with the legacies of men whose flaws have become apparent in recent decades. Stephen Douglas, for example, profited from slavery. His statue, and that of Pierre Menard, have been hauled off the Capitol’s front lawn.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
