VIDEO: Monuments and Memory, a mini-docuseries
A mini-docuseries about Monument Avenue in Richmond, VA and the stories we tell about ourselves.
I’ve gotten lots of great feedback on this video series! If you’d like to see more of this content, please consider becoming a subscriber today!
I love history because history is story. Our stories define us. They shape our identities.
So it’s important to interrogate the stories we tell in physical spaces. What stories do statues and monuments tell about who we consider important, worthy of honor, and significant enough to remember throughout the generations?
On Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia the numerous statues of Confederate leaders, slaveholders, and white supremacists tell a sad story about racism in our nation.
Thanks to the long and arduous efforts of local residents, those monuments have recently come down. But in communities all over this country, similar battles are still being fought.
I got to visit Richmond a few weeks ago and participate in this impromptu mini-docuseries about Monument Ave.
We set it up at 9 pm the night before and started recording at 8 am the next morning. We had only the vaguest sketch of a plan, but I am so pleased with how it turned out and the context it gives.
Thanks to Chipper Via and David Bailey for hooking this up.
Below you’ll find the entire video, but we’ve also divided it into 60 second clips you can watch as a mini-series on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok (yes, I’m on there, but I confess I have no idea what I’m doing!).
Please share widely.
I’d love to do more of these kinds of historical explorations. What else would like like to hear about or think should be documented? Chime in below!
Hello, Jemar, I had a question about a movie that I wonder if you've seen, and if so what your take on it might be. I was watching the movie "42", being a baseball fan and having studied some about the Negro Leagues. In the process of looking up Chadwick Boseman's bio (and one who was taken too soon), I noticed that he starred in "Marshall", about Justice Thurgood Marshall before he ascended to the Supreme Court. I will be looking into a way to see the movie (incl. rental, if it's available), but I wonder if you liked it and would want it to be a more widely known film. (And/ or if you had other resources on him that you ran across, academic or otherwise!)
Thanks for reading-- glad to subscribe (the little I can right now). PS-- I was born on April 4, the year after Dr. King was shot, so he's "in my memory", in a small way. Blessings!