Christopher Columbus, Should he stay?

  • April 20, 2021
  • 4:00 PM - 5:30 CST
  • zoom
  • Margaret DiMarco, mschnering@luc.edu
  • free
  • Not open to the public.
  • https://www.luc.edu/150/scholars/
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  • Details

    150th Anniversary Scholar Series: Christopher Columbus, Should He Stay or Should He Go? The Legacy of the World¿s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and Multicultural Chicago Today

    Carla Simonini, PhD

    Events surrounding Mayor Lightfoot¿s decision to remove the city¿s three Columbus statues last July for fear that they would become sites of violent confrontations between factions that disagree upon the significance of Columbus¿s legacy in the founding of the United States has intensified the already heated debate surrounding the role of public monuments, which by definition are supposed to reflect the values of the community in which they are erected. It is significant that two of the three statues ¿ the one in Arrigo Park and the other a part of the Drake Fountain that had been relocated to 92nd Street between South Chicago and Exchange Avenues, are both linked to the first declared national celebration of Columbus Day and the subsequent inauguration of the World¿s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The statue in Arrigo Park was, in fact, the very statue that adorned the Italian Pavilion at the Exposition, and it eventually found its home on Loomis Street through the fund-raising efforts of State Representative Victor Arrigo, who wanted it to serve as the focal point of the revitalized Little Italy neighborhood. This presentation seeks to contextualize the erection of the city¿s Columbus monuments, comparing views on American identity and diversity as espoused in the 1890s with our current understandings of them. It is no coincidence that President Harrison¿s first declaration of a national Columbus Day celebration coincided with the end of the Indians wars, the close of the frontier, and the first wave of immigration of ¿alien¿ people from Southern and Eastern Europe. What symbolic meaning was attached to Columbus then, and to what end? And how can we reconcile the symbolism of the past with contemporary multicultural perspectives? Christopher Columbus, should he stay or should he go?

    Seats are limited. Register today: https://luc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DdAGLEidQOeKES7R6Uhp8A