EMPTY PEDESTALS: COUNTERING CONFEDERATE NARRATIVES THROUGH PUBLIC DESIGN // 11.18.24

Empty Pedestals (LSU Press, 2024) uses a design perspective to explore how monuments to the Confederacy speak to regionalism, racist political agendas, and residual collective pain. Many designers and artists working in the public realm have created innovative projects to replace Confederate memorials, contextualize those that still stand, and foster new conversations about history, race, and justice in America. By drawing lessons from these initiatives and considering the questions that remain, editors Kofi Boone and M. Elen Deming hope to assist educators and students in combating endemic prejudice and other forms of social division.
Join Boone and Deming, along with C.L. Bohannon and Elgin Cleckley, two of the volume’s contributors, who will discuss novel frameworks and shared solutions for the issues that continue to trouble American cultural landscapes.