Let’s Turn Our Confederate Monuments Into Collaborative Art Spaces (TX)
BY DOYLE RADER
AUG 03, 2015 AT 11:07 AM
Twelve years ago, Dallas County Commissioners confronted an ugly reality of the city’s past. In the Dallas County Records Building, a metal plate screwed into the wall above a water fountain became dislodged and fell. Behind it were traces a Jim Crow era “Whites Only” sign. The sign, a relic of a past Dallas would like to forget, immediately sparked cries for its removal. After all, removing indicators of the past, especially when they are less than flattering, is something of a Dallas specialty.
However, the Commissioners Court, in an effort spearheaded by John Wiley Price, voted 4-1 to keep it. A plaque was placed above the sign detailing its history and explaining the reasoning for its continued display. “The Dallas County Commissioners Court has chosen to leave the remnants of this sign in its original location to remind us of this unpleasant portion of our history,” the plaque reads. “If we cannot remember it, we will not learn from it, and we will not appreciate or respect the rights and the responsibilities that we enjoy.”
In 2005, artist Lauren Woods wanted to go beyond the plaque. Her idea was to turn the water fountain, and the remnants of the “Whites Only” sign above, into a teaching opportunity. She proposed that the fountain become an art installation. The premise was that when someone pressed the button for a drink, a 45 second video would be displayed on the surface of the fountain with footage of Civil Rights protesters being sprayed with water hoses. It was her way to “retell the story of that era for the newer generation,” as she said in an NBC5 interview at the time. “Something like this is a living piece of history. In a museum it can act as a tombstone which can create a sort of apathy and distance.” Eight years later Woods’ installation, Drinking Fountain #1, was finally unveiled ...
Dallas’ history of segregation is not often spoken about. As a southern city, most know that Dallas was firmly rooted in the Jim Crow South, but just how entrenched it was is frequently overlooked. The lynching of Allen Brooks in downtown in 1910, the prominence of the Ku Klux Klan in city politics and beyond, and the integration of public schools in 1971, 17 years after Brown v. Board of Education, are either conveniently ignored or considered taboo. (Public schools are still effectively segregated; less than 10 percent of students in Dallas ISD are white.) ...
http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2015/08/lets-turn-our-confederate-monuments-into-collaborative-art-spaces/
