Last season, we met with the founders of Refusing to Forget to discuss La Matanza and the lack of monuments and memorials that recognize this historic tragedy. Today, we're continuing that conversation by speaking with Elsie Garcia, a descendent of one of the men killed in the Porvenir Massacre, a key event of La Matanza. Elsie's story reminds us of the importance of memorializing these tragedies and remembering how the past continues to impact us today.

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Co-Host: Diana Hernandez & Gilbert Correa

Production: Noah Price

Music by Epidemic Sound: "Falling Flat" by John Runefelt and "Impossible is Nothin'" Elliot Holmes

In our last episode, we met with Sonja Henderson, who discussed her work on the We Still Here monument as part of Chicago's Monuments Response Project. Today, we're meeting with Sadie Woods, the co-creator of this monument, so that she can tell us how sound and music impacted the narrative their work puts forth. Exploring the ways that music can act as a monument of it's own,  Sadie's insights share a powerful and unique way that we can reinterpret oppressive monuments. 

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Co-Host: Diana Hernandez

Production: Noah Price

Music by Epidemic Sound: "Falling Flat" by John Runefelt and "Impossible is Nothin'" Elliot Holmes

Welcome to the 5th season of The Monumental Project! We're excited to kick off this season with a three-part series on Chicago's Monuments Response Project. This project commissioned a handful of artists to create their own monuments in the same space as controversial monuments on the city's lakewalk. In this first part, we meet with Sonja Henderson, co-creator of the We Still Here monument along with Sadie Woods who will be featured in the next episode. Sonja shares with us not only her insights in creating this specific monument in response to the equestrian General Sheridan monument in Chicago, but her overall social practice as she works to help mothers in Chicago understand and work through their grief. 

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Co-Host: Madeline Bonner

Production: Noah Price

Music by Epidemic Sound: "Falling Flat" by John Runefelt and "Impossible is Nothin'" Elliot Holmes

What happens when Indigenous researchers respond to a Western museum calling a codex a "living ancestor"? In this season finale and our first episode entirely in Spanish, Dr. Omar Aguilar Sánchez, Mixtec archaeologist and founder of Colectivo Nchivi Ñuu Savi, and Mtro. Gibránn Becerra Álvarez, archaeologist and member of Voladores de Cuetzalan del Progreso, bring the voices that Part 1 was missing. They speak from their communities about codices as living heritage, rematriation, ongoing colonial processes, and why the definitions of "monument" and "cultural heritage" need to be rethought from the voices of the peoples themselves.
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¿Qué pasa cuando investigadores indígenas responden a un museo occidental que describe un códice como un "ancestro vivo"? En este final de temporada y nuestro primer episodio completamente en español, el Dr. Omar Aguilar Sánchez, arqueólogo mixteco, fundador y director del Colectivo Nchivi Ñuu Savi, y el Mtro. Gibránn Becerra Álvarez, arqueólogo e integrante de Voladores de Cuetzalan del Progreso, traen las voces que faltaban en la Parte 1. Nos hablan desde sus comunidades sobre los códices como patrimonio vivo, la rematriación, procesos coloniales vigentes, y por qué las definiciones de "monumento" y "patrimonio cultural" necesitan ser repensadas desde las voces de los pueblos.

Credits

Host: Diana Hernandez

Interviewer: Diana Hernandez/ Gilbert C. Correa

Production: Noah Price

Song Credits:

Melancholy Lull by Vital

Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

When does an artifact in a museum reach "monumental" status? In this episode, we're exploring the concept of belongings as monuments, primarily focusing on the Amoxtli Tezcatlipoca (or the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer) with Meghan Backhouse from National Museums Liverpool and José Sherwood, an expert on the amoxtli. This will be the first part as the second part will be with Nahua scholars conducted in the spanish language. 

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Interviewer: Noah Price, Madeline Bonner

Production: Noah Price

Song Credits:

Melancholy Lull by Vital

Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

What is creative extremism? Michelle Browder uses this phrase from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to describe her work as both an artist and activist in Montgomery, Alabama. In this episode, Michelle tells us about her company, More Than Tours, as well as the Mothers of Gynecology monument that she created in protest of the J. Marion Sims statue.

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Interviewer: Noah Price

Production: Noah Price

Song Credits:

Melancholy Lull by Vital

Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

In this episode, we're continuing our conversation about Freedmen's Town by turning toward some of the efforts currently happening to protect the infrastructure while also modernizing it as a livable community. We're joined by Sharon Fletcher, Executive Director of the Freedmen's Town Conservancy, who tells us why Freedmen's Town is a monument of worldwide importance. 

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Interviewer: Noah Price

Production: Noah Price

Song Credits:

Melancholy Lull by Vital

Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

In this episode, we're meeting with the folks of Freedmen's Town in Houston, Texas. Freedmen's Town is a historic neighborhood developed entirely by the formerly enslaved people of the greater Houston area after their emancipation. However, preserving the town has been a challenge due to ongoing developments and modernization. Joining us from the Rutherford B. Yates Museum, Catherine Roberts and her colleagues tell us all about the history of the town as well as the advocacy work to keep it preserved as best as possible. 

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Interviewer: Noah Price, Madeline Bonner

Production: Noah Price

Song Credits:

Melancholy Lull by Vital

Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

How does a historic site become a national park? In this episode, we meet with Kevin Levin, an educator and public historian who tells about the process of turning Fort Pillow into a national historic site. We discuss the history of Fort Pillow, how students are involved in the discussion on monuments, and the various methods public historians use to reach new audiences. 

Credits

Host: Noah Price

Interviewer: Noah Price

Production: Noah Price

Song Credits:

Melancholy Lull by Vital

Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES

We return today with the second and final part of our "Remembering La Matanza" series in response to today's violence against Americans of Mexican descent. Program Director Diana Hernandez and Community Engagement Associate Gilbert Correa lead today's conversation as they meet with Elsie Garcia, a descendant of one of the men killed in the Porvenir Massacre. Elsie shares with us how she learned about her family's story and the way she works to ensure it continues to be remembered. 

Credits

Song Credits:

Melancholy Lull by Vital

Royalty Free Music: Bensound.com/royalty-free-music

License code: GHSG4LYAWYBKBEES