Public History Project

The Lehman Center Public History Project supports research, writing, and digital scholarship that addresses critical topics connecting historical and contemporary concerns and is oriented towards a broad and diverse audience.

Theme for 2021: Public space, contestation, and commemoration

The past year has witnessed an explosion of discussions, tension, and interest around commemorations of history in public life. Statues depicting enslavers and colonizers have been taken down by activists as part of an uprising against racism and injustice. At the same time, we have seen institutional debates over the role of monuments and building names in shaping our understanding of the past. These discussions and actions have prompted a deeper consideration of the politics of memory—who gets remembered, and why? And how do these infrastructures of public commemoration both reflect and reshape relations of power in the present?