Monuments commemorating politicians and soldiers who fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War never stood silent. In this Story+ project, students considered why people celebrate, protest, or decide to keep silent about aspects of our collective past by turning to sound. This team also investigated how the participatory nature of public history opens us to the potential for resistance. How do sonic interventions challenge the supremacist and universalizing perspective of commemorative aesthetics? What were the sounds that uplifted freedom movements protesting public memorials? What kinds of silences have persisted over the years that a public sculpture has stood?

Project Sponsor(s): Vance Byrd, Duke 2021 Humanities Unbounded Fellow, Presidential Associate Professor Germanic Languages and Literatures University of Pennsylvania

Graduate Mentor(s): Ellie Vilakazi, Ph.D. Candidate in English

Undergraduates: Princess Jackson (NCCU), De’Ja Bunyan (NCCU), Morgan Chumney, Malynda Wollert