Abraham Lincoln is the undisputed U.S. monument champion
Plus: Converse’s newest drop was inspired by an abolitionist newspaper
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Abraham Lincoln is the undisputed U.S. monument champion
The mural that just went up in D.C. to bring attention to detained Americans is ephemeral on purpose
Converse’s newest drop was inspired by an abolitionist newspaper
Abraham Lincoln is the undisputed U.S. monument champion
There are 193 monuments to Abraham Lincoln in the U.S., more than any other person.
That’s according to a Washington Post review of 42 monument databases that found Lincoln monuments are largely located in the northeast in states that made up the Union when he was president.
Lincoln was followed by George Washington with 171 monuments, Christopher Columbus — an Italian who never set foot on land that would become the U.S. — with 149, Martin Luther King Jr. with 86, and rounding out the top five, another Italian: Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, with 73.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee comes in at No. 6 with 59 monuments, which I’ll never understand because I thought monuments were for winners. Between 2009 and 2020, more than 80 confederate monuments were taken down across the U.S., according to FiveThirtyEight, but we still have a long way to go. Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis have more monuments up today than great Americans like Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Lewis and Clark, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass.
Rounding out the top 10 is Polish-born Revolutionary War officer Casimir Pulaski, Benjamin Franklin, JFK, and Thomas Jefferson.
Who do you think deserves to be in the U.S. monument top 10?
The mural that just went up in D.C. to bring attention to detained Americans is ephemeral on purpose
The group Bring Our Families Home Campaign is hoping to draw attention to Americans who are detained in foreign countries with street art in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood.
The wheat paste mural, by artist and producer Isaac Campbell, includes depictions of 18 detained Americans, including Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner, who is wrongfully detained in Russia, and Emad Shari, who is wrongfully detained in Iran and has family in Georgetown.
Campbell said the idea for the mural started as an attempt to draw attention to Paul Rusesabagina, a U.S. Presidential Medal of Honor recipient who is wrongfully detained in Rwanda, but he realized it would be more effective with more people and he worked with the Bring Our Families Home Campaign to collect photos.
“This is the first time that these hostages and wrongful detainees have been seen together as a collective,” he told me. “What these families are doing by creating this coalition is you can’t look at Brittney Griner and not think of all those other people.”
The mural is located in an alleyway. “It’s not a building that faces an open space, so this was going to be an intimate experience for people who were going to visit the mural,” Campbell said. The ephemeral nature of wheat paste posters means the mural won’t last long, and that’s intentional.
“I think a lot of time with murals or public pieces of art, there’s an expected sense of permanence,” he said. But wheat paste posters are “totally vulnerable to the elements, both natural and human, and I think that really helps to communicate the delicacy of the situation. Time is not a luxury we have. We do not have the promise that if we wait long enough these people will come home.”
Campell said he felt “hit by a truck” as he went through the photos and noticed the difference in resolution between photos taken in 2012 vs. 2020, underscoring how long some families have been away from their loved ones. “I’m beginning to slowly understand how time plays out for these family members,” he said.
The mural is located at 3125 M Street NW, and you can read more about Americans who are wrongly detained here.
Converse’s newest drop was inspired by an abolitionist newspaper
Converse has teamed up with Barriers, a Back history-inspired streetwear brand, for a collab that takes its cues from Frederick Douglass’ anti-slavery newspaper the North Star.
The Barriers X Converse capsule collection includes Chucks with starlight stitching on the eyelets, yellowed soles that bring to mind weathered newspaper, and insoles showing the Big Dipper as a reminder of how enslaved people used the stars to help navigate their way to freedom. The shoes also come with cowrie shells on the laces, because of their use as currency, good luck charms, and in spiritual ceremonies in Africa.
The collection also includes tees, hoodies, and shorts with star and constellation designs.
“Converse is a heritage company that has been in everyone’s childhood and I want the same from my brand,” Barriers founder Steven Barter told Women’s Wear Daily. “I’m pushing Black history and culture and telling the truth from my point of view.”
The North Star was published by Douglass from 1847 to 1851 with the motto “Right is of no sex—Truth is of no color—God is the Father of us all, and we are brethren.”
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This post has been updated with additional images.