Why Monuments are Defaced or Destroyed Boston, MA

Christopher Columbus Defaced

Christopher Columbus Monument by Andrew J. Mazzola

Photos by Steven Passacantilli courtesy NorthEndwaterfront.com http:/northendwaterfront.com/2015/06/christopher-columbus-statue-vandalized/

Why are Monuments Defaced?

Christopher Columbus Carrara marble statue in Boston was defaced a few weeks ago to protest the on going conflict in some of our American cities between Afro-Americans and Local police forces.

A number of years ago a similar defacing and decapitation of the Christopher Columbus monument in the city of Boston occurred, at that time from an out cry of our native American community for injustices done to their people past and present.

Each protest to this white Carrara marble statue was indirectly symbolically aimed at our White Caucasian majority. Christopher Columbus symbolizes that White Caucasian Christian majority from Europe who dominated, conquered, controlled enslaved and almost eradicated these minority groups within America.

Monuments can bring out all sorts of feelings, emotions ideologies out from all people and all sectors of society.Monuments speak to each one of us in different and unique ways.

Christopher Columbus

Waterfront / Christopher Columbus ParkAndrew J. Mazzola, SculptorCarrara Marble

This monument is located in one of the most beautiful and historic parks within Boston.
The historic docks constructed and used for the Mercantile trade between Boston, Europe and the Caribbean during the 1600’s,1700’s and 1800’s border this park.

The Boston Parks Department Summer Concert Series and the Holiday lighting of the blue lit Arbor Ceremony all happen here, right before Christopher Columbus.

The Christopher Columbus Park was constructed in 1974, thanks to the efforts of a non-profit group formed by residents and businesses in the North End and Waterfront areas. This tribute to the park’s namesake explorer was added a few years later. In their proximity to the North End, the statue and park emphasize Columbus’s Italian heritage. The statue created by Andrew J. Mazzola of Norwood Monumental Works is carved from Italian Carrara marble, favored by sculptors for its quality and its translucence. The marble’s porous surface has also been susceptible to vandals, some of whom view Columbus as an oppressor, not a hero.

The voyages of Columbus molded the future of European colonization and encouraged European exploration of foreign lands for centuries to come.

Columbus’ initial 1492 voyage came at a critical time of emerging modern western imperialism and economic competition between developing kingdoms seeking wealth from the establishment of trade routes and colonies. In this sociopolitical climate, Columbus’s farfetched scheme won the attention of Isabelle of Castle. Severely underestimating the circumference of the Earth, he estimated that a westward route from Iberia to the Indies would be shorter than the overland trade route through Arabia. If true, this would allow Spain entry into the lucrative spice trade heretofore commanded by the Arabs and Italians. Following his plotted course, he instead landed within the Bahamas at a locale he named San Salvador. Mistaking the lands he encountered for Asia, he
referred to the inhabitants as (“indios,” Spanish for “Indians”). 

"Boston Bronze and Stone Speak To Us" can be purchased on Amazon.com, Fanuiel Hall Gift Store and Old North Church Gift Shop Boston, MA

Boston Landmark a monument to the Beginning of Memorial Day Celebration.

Upon entering the Massachusetts State House designed by Boston's own native son, Charles Bullfinch, a bronze monument resides.

Memorial Day Monument, a Boston Monument Landmark.

Grand Army Monument, another example of Boston Historic Art

Outside Beacon Hill State House south lawn Bronze Plaque 1930

“In 1868, Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan issued General Order No. 11 calling for all Departments and Posts to set aside the 30th of May as a day for remembering the sacrifices of fallen comrades, thereby beginning the celebration of Memorial Day.” 

Thus began the birth of our Memorial Day Weekend, Boston, MA. 

John A. Logan, is regarded as the most important figure in the movement to recognize Memorial Day( originally known as "Decoration Day") as an official holiday declared that May 30, 1868 be a "Decoration Day": decorating the graves of the war dead.

However, the first people who used ritual to honor this country's war dead were the formerly enslaved black community of Charleston, South Carolina, May 1, 1865 three years earlier then Commander Logan's declaration on May 30th 1868.

In the West African tradition of honoring their war dead by decorating the graves of their war dead back in Africa. The Charleston, South Carolina's Gullah people ( West African rice planters who were enslaved and sold at this port), Honored their fallen heroes both back and white on May 1, 1865 by having 3000 black children bearing roses with women and men bearing wreaths marched together decorating their fallen dead. Black troops were present including some of our 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Thus our roots of our National Memorial Day commemoration.

"Boston Bronze and Stone Speak To Us"  the Boston Monument Guide Book can be purchased at Old North Church Gift Shop, Faneul Hall Gift Shop, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble Book Stores.

Happy Birthday Cyrus E. Dallin from Boston.

"You may be familiar with Cyrus E. Dallins Boston monuments and statues around Boston. "Paul Revere", "Anna Hutchinson" and "Appeal To The Great Spirit" are just some of his spiritualistic memorial sculptures inspiring all of us.

Dallin, the son of Thomas and Jane (Hamer) Dallin, was born in Springville, Utah, November 1861 to a family then belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At age 19, he moved to Boston to study sculpture with T. H. Bartlett, and in 1883 entered a competition for an equestrian statue of Paul Revere. No entries were selected, but over the next 58 years Dallin made seven versions of a monument of Paul Revere.

In Boston, he became a colleague of Augustus St. Gaudens and a close friend of John Singer Sargent. He married Vittoria Colonna Murray in 1891, moved to Arlington, Massachusetts in 1900, where he lived for the rest of his life, and there raised three children. He was a member of the faculty of Massachusetts Normal Art School, since renamed Massachusetts College of Art and Design, from 1899 to 1941.

He created more than 260 works monuments and statues, including well known Boston statues of Paul Revere and of Native Americans. He also sculpted the statue of the Angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake City Temple, which has become a symbol for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is generally the pattern for future Angel Moroni statues on the spires of subsequent LDS Temples.

Dallin was probably the first American Sculptor sensitive enough to depict American Indians as humanist spiritualistic human beings in his statues and monuments, because he grew up with Indians as a boy in Utah. Cyrus E.Dallin conveyed this above sensitivity through his Boston bronze and stone sculptures.

Happy Birthday from Joe Gallo, author of "Boston Bronze and Stone Speak To Us", a Boston guidebook of historical story telling of monuments and statues our found on Boston's parks and streets.