Separate times, shared spaces: Arthur Ashe, Monument Avenue and the politics of Richmond, Virginia's symbolic landscape

Cultural Geographies

Volumn 9, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 286-312

  Leib, Jonathan I ^a  

^a FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84992831602     PISSN: 14744740     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1191/1474474002eu250oa     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. K. Edwards, E. Howard and T. Prawl, Monument Avenue: history and architecture (Washington, US Dept of the Interior, National Park Service, Cultural Resources, Historical American Building Survey, 1992); J. Winberry, ’ “Lest we forget”: the Confederate monument and the Southern townscape’, Southeastern geographer 23 (1983), pp. 107-21; G. Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy: defeat, the Lost Cause, and the emergence of the New South (New York, Oxford University Press, 1987).
2. C. Wilson, Judgement and grace in Dixie: Southern faiths from Faulkner to Elvis (Athens, University of Georgia Press, 1995), p. 20; C. Wilson, Baptized in blood: the religion of the Lost Cause (Athens, University of Georgia Press, 1980), p. 29.
3. Edwards et al., Monument Avenue, p. 13.
4. J. Tooley, ‘Boulevard of broken dreams’, US news & world report (11 Nov. 1991), p. 24.
5. Wilson, Judgement and grace; J. Cobb, Redefining Southern culture (Athens, University of Georgia Press, 1999); On the controversies over the flying of Confederate flags, see G. Webster and R. Webster, ‘The power of an icon’, Geographical review 84 (1994), pp. 131-43; J. Leib, ‘Heritage versus hate: a geographical analysis of Georgia's Confederate flag debate’, Southeastern geographer 35 (1995), pp. 37-57; J. Leib, ‘Teaching controversial topics: iconography and the Confederate battle flag in the South’, Journal of geography 97 (1998), pp. 229-40; G. Webster and J. Leib, ‘Whose South is it anyway? Race and the Confederate battle flag in South Carolina’, Political geography 20 (2001), pp. 271-99; J. Leib, G. Webster and R. Webster, ‘Rebel with a cause? Iconography and public memory in the Southern United States’, Geojournal 52 (2000), pp. 303-10; on the renaming of streets for Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, see D. Alderman, ‘A street fit for a King: naming places and commemoration in the American South’, Professional geographer 52 (2000), pp. 672-84; on the placement of civil rights memorials, see O. Dwyer, ‘Interpreting the civil rights movement: place, memory, and conflict’, Professional geographer 52 (2000), pp. 660-71.
6. R. Merelman, Representing black culture: racial conflict and cultural politics in the United States (New York, Routledge, 1995).
7. e. g. J. Gottman, ‘Geography and international relations’, World politics 3 (1951), pp. 153-73; J. Gottman, ‘The political partitioning of our world: an attempt at analysis’, World politics 4 (1952), pp. 512-19; A. Boime, The unveiling of the national icons (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 2.
8. R. Schein, ‘The place of landscape: a conceptual framework for interpreting an American scene’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 87 (1997), p. 660.
9. D. Mitchell, The lie of the land: migrant workers and the Califor nia landscape (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1996), p. 27.
10. K. Savage, ‘The politics of memory: black emancipation and the Civil War monument’, in J. Gillis, ed., Commemorations: the politics of national identity (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1994), p. 135.
11. N. Johnson, ‘Cast in stone: monuments, geography and nationalism’, Environment and planning D 13 (1995), p. 62; see also N. Johnson, ‘Sculpting heroic histories: celebrating the centenary of the 1798 rebellion in Ireland’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers n. s. 19 (1994), pp. 51-65; N. Johnson, ‘The renaissance of Nationalism’, in R. Johnston, P. Taylor, and M. Watts, eds., Geographies of global change (Oxford, Blackwell, 1995), pp. 97-110.
12. J. Bodnar, Remaking America: public memory, commemoration, and patriotism in the twentieth century (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1992); J. Bodnar, ‘Public memory in an American city: commemoration in Cleveland’, in J. Gillis, ed., Commemorations: the politics of national identity (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1994), pp. 74-89. See also D. Haydon, The power of place: urban landscape as public history (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1995); J.K. Olick and D. Levy, ‘Collective memory and cultural constraint: Holocaust myth and rationality in German politics’, American sociological review 62 (1997), pp. 921-36; M. Sturkin, Tangled memories: the Vietnam War, the AIDS epidemic and the politics of remembering (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1997); L.P. Spillman, Nation and commemoration: creating national identities in the United States and Australia (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1997); D. DeLyser, ‘Authenticity on the ground: engaging the past in a California ghost town’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 89 (1999), pp. 602-32; K. Till, ‘Staging the past: landscape designs, cultural identity and the Erinnerungspolitik at Berlin's Neue Wache’, Ecumene 6 (1999), pp. 251-83.
13. Schein, ‘The place of landscape’, p. 662.
14. Bodnar, Remaking America; Bodnar, ‘Public memory in an American city’; Savage, ‘The politics of memory’, p. 143.
15. e.g. P. Jackson and J. Penrose, eds, Constructions of race, place and nation (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1994); M. Omi and H. Winant, Racial formation in the United States from the 1960s to the 1990s, 2nd edn (New York, Routledge, 1994); A. Bonnett, ‘Constructions of “race”, place and discipline: geographies of “racial” identity and racism’, Ethnic and racial studies 19 (1996), pp. 864-83; S. Cornell and D. Hartmann, Ethnicity and race: making identities in a changing world (Thousand Oaks, CA, Pine Forge Press, 1998).
16. Omi and Winant, Racial formation in the United States, pp. 55, 56; R. Schein, ‘Teaching “race” and the cultural landscape’, Journal of geography 98 (1999), p. 189.
17. M. Wray and A. Newitz, ‘Introduction’, in M. Wray and A. Newitz, eds, White trash: race and class in America (New York, Routledge, 1997), pp. 3 and 5; see also b. hooks, Yearning: race, gender, and cultural politics (Boston, South End Press, 1990), A. Bonnett, ‘Geography, “race”, and whiteness: invisible traditions and current challenges’, Area 29 (1997), pp. 193-9; P. Jackson, ‘Constructions of “whiteness” in the geographical imagination’, Area 30 (1998), pp. 99-106.
18. K. Foote, Shadowed ground: America's landscapes of violence and tragedy (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1997), p. 322.
19. Merelman, Representing black culture, pp. 10-12; Savage, ‘The politics of memory’; see also H. Gulley, ‘Women and the Lost Cause: preserving a Confederate identity in the American Deep South’, Journal of historical geography 19 (1993), pp. 125-41.
20. Tooley, ‘Boulevard of broken dreams’.
21. R. Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue: Richmond, Virginia’, in J. Cigliano and S. Landau, eds, The grand American avenue, 1850-1920 (Rohnert Park, CA, Pomegranate Artbooks, 1994), pp. 259-79.
22. Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue’, p. 259; J. Busbee, ‘Richmond rallies for Arthur Ashe’, Reckon (winter 1996), pp. 16-17.
23. Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue’, p. 278.
24. Wilson, Baptized in blood; C. O'Leary, To die for: the paradox of American patriotism (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1999).
25. Cobb, Redefining Southern culture, p. 155.
26. Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue’, p. 261.
27. Cobb, Redefining Southern culture; C. Woodward, The strange career of Jim Crow, 3rd edn (New York, Oxford University Press, 1974); D. Delaney, Race, place, and the law, 1836-1948 (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1998).
28. J. DuPriest, Jr, and D. Tice, Jr, Monument and Boulevard: Richmond's grand avenues (Richmond, VA, Richmond Discoveries, 1996), p. 8; see also Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy; O'Leary, To die for; M. Tyler-McGraw, At the falls: Richmond, Virginia, and its people (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1994).
29. Edwards et al., Monument Avenue; Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue’; While Lee, Davis, Stuart and Jackson are best known for their activities with the Confederacy, Maury's fame came prior to the war as an important oceanographer. However, he did have Confederate connections. He served in the Confederate navy, in which he is best known for developing underwater mines and serving as a special envoy for the Confederacy. Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue’.
30. A. Ashe and A. Rampersad, Days of grace: a memoir (New York, Ballantine, 1993), p. 317.
31. Edwards et al., Monument Avenue; Tyler-McGraw, At the falls; ‘Richmond street stirs up a row’, New York Times (12 Dec. 1965), p. 89; R. Pratt, The color of their skin: education and race in Richmond, Virginia (Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press, 1992).
32. M. Barone and G. Ujifusa, The almanac of American politics, 1998 (Washington, National Journal, 1997), p. 1458.
33. Edward et al., Monument Avenue, p. 100.
34. Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue’, p. 278.
35. Quoted in Tooley, ‘Boulevard of broken dreams’, p. 24; T. White, ‘Symbolism, history collide in debate’, Richmond Afro-American (13-19 July 1995), p. A3.
36. Busbee, ‘Richmond rallies’, p. 16.
37. A. Ashe, Off the court (New York, New American Library, 1981), p. 52.
38. Ashe and Rampersad, Days of grace, p. 141.
39. K. Moore, ‘The eternal example’, Sports illustrated (21 Dec. 1992), pp. 19-26; Ashe and Rampersad, Days of grace.
40. Moore, ‘The eternal example’.
41. e.g. M. Allen, ’ “Just plain better than most of us” ‘, Richmond Times-Dispatch (11 Feb. 1993), pp. A1, A14.
42. M. Williams, ‘Arthur Ashe: a Virginia hero for the world’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (8 Feb. 1993), pp. B1, B7; R. McAllister, ‘Ashe Boulevard: a lifetime long’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (3 Mar. 1993), p. B1.
43. Allen, ’ “Just plain better” ‘; O. Winslow and M. Allen, ‘Rites for Ashe planned here’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (8 Feb. 1993), pp. A1, A5.
44. Busbee, ‘Richmond Rallies’.
45. J. Strauss, ‘Monumental task’, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8 Jan. 1995), p. M1; see G. Hickey, ‘Group cites competition for memorial to Ashe’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (10 May 1994), p. B3; ‘Ashe monument gets green light’, Richmond Free Press (29 Sept.-1 Oct. 1994), p. 14; J. Lazarus, ’ “Heroes” unveil No. 1 hero’, Richmond Free Press (8-10 Dec. 1994), p. 3.
46. Quoted from Edwards et al., Monument Avenue, p. 216; see Wilson, ‘Monument Avenue’, p. 277.
47. Quoted in G. Hickey, ‘Statue's path wasn't smooth’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (8 July 1996), p. A3; quoted in G. Hickey, ‘City OKs monument site for Ashe’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (20 June 1995), p. A5; quoted in P. Baker, ‘Landmark decision in Richmond’, Washington Post (20 June 1995), pp. B7.
48. ‘Richmond hesitates on tennis star's statue’, New York Times (27 June 1995), p. B7; M. Allen, ‘Return to square one’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (28 June 1995), pp. A1, A6.
49. M. Allen, ‘Many oppose Monument site’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (19 July 1995), p. A8.
50. Quoted in M. Allen, ‘Monument site for Ashe put in doubt’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (27 June 1995), p. A5.
51. Quoted in Hickey, ‘City OKs’, p. A5.
52. Quoted in ‘Race-tinged furor stalls Arthur Ashe memorial’, New York Times (9 July 1995), p. 11; M. Williams, ‘National embarrassment avoided in “our finest hour” ‘, Richmond Times-Dispatch (18 July 1995), pp. A1, A10.; T. White, ’ “We rose to Ashe's level” ‘, Richmond Afro-American (20-26 July 1995), pp. A1, A2.
53. e.g. Associated Press, ‘Question of black soldiers for the South becomes part of Confederate flag debate’, Tuscaloosa News (3 Mar. 1997), p. 7A; M. Potok, ed., The Southern Poverty Law Center's intelligence report: rebel with a cause, issue 99 (summer 2000), p. 34.
54. P. Murphy, letter to the editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch (17 July 1995); R. Pounders, letter to the editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch (17 July 1995).
55. M. Chisenhall, letter to the editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch (21 June 1995), p. A10.
56. Quoted in ‘City Council to hear people on memorial’, Richmond Free Press (29 June-1 July 1995), p. A5.
57. P. Moody, letter to the editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch (1 July 1995), p. A8.
58. Hickey, ‘Statue's path’, p. A3.
59. Quoted in Allen, ‘Monument site’, p. A5. Though having argued this, city councilwoman Shirley Harvey wanted to know, ‘Where is the hallowed ground for black people who have suffered and died?’ (Quoted in ‘Ashe family credited for winning vote’, Richmond Free Press (20-22 July 1995), p. 5).
60. Quoted in Baker, ‘Richmond to honour Ashe’, p. A8.
61. Quoted in Allen, ‘Monument site’, p. A1.
62. Quotations taken from ‘City council’, Richmond Free Press, p. 5; ‘Advantage who’?, Economist (15 July 1995), p. 20; M. Edds, ‘Clashing views on Ashe memorial’, Richmond Free Press (13-15 July 1995), p. 4.
63. Quoted in M. Allen, ‘Mayor offers a compromise’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (17 July 1995), p. A7.
64. Quoted in White, ‘Symbolism, history collide’, p. A3.
65. Quoted in G. Hickey, ‘Offer made to pay for Ashe statue in Byrd Park’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (29 July 1995), p. B1.
66. Quoted in ‘On street where Confederates reign, Arthur Ashe may, too’, New York Times (18 June 1995), p. A16.
67. Quoted in Hickey, ‘City OKs’, p. A5.
68. M. Williams, ‘A monument to Richmond's racial strife’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (3 July 1995), p. B6.
69. Quoted in Strauss, ‘Monumental task’, p. M1.
70. Quoted in Edds, ‘Clashing views’, p. 4; quoted in M. Allen, ‘Ashe family has diverse views on statue’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (29 June 1995), p. A4.
71. S. Martinez, ‘The masking of history: popular images of the nation on a Dominican sugar plantation’, New West Indian guide 71 (1997), p. 241.
72. Quoted in ‘On streets where Confederates reign’, New York Times, p. A16.
73. Quoted in M. Williams, ‘Arthur Ashe deserves place on Monument’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (12 Dec. 1994), p. B1; quoted in Allen, ‘Monument site’, p. A1.
74. Williams, ‘A monument to Richmond's racial strife’, p. B1; Williams, ‘Arthur Ashe deserves place on Monument’, p. B1.
75. Quoted in T. Campbell and M. Allen, ‘Hearing puts focus on city’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (18 July 1995), p. A10.
76. Quoted in Allen, ‘Mayor offers a compromise’, p. A1.
77. Quoted in M. Williams and T. Campbell, ‘Ashe family big factor in outcome’, Richmond Times- Dispatch (19 July 1995), p. A8.
78. Quoted in Hickey, ‘Ashe vote’, p. A8.
79. Quoted in ‘Ashe family’, Richmond Free Press, p. 5; quoted in G. Hickey, ‘Ashe statue will go on Monument’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (18 July 1995), p. A1; quoted in ‘Ashe vote heard “round the world” ‘, editorial, Richmond Afro-American (20-26 July 1995), p. A4.
80. J. Moutoussamy-Ashe, ‘A New Year's wish for Richmond: accept gift of Arthur's vision’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (1 Jan. 1996), p. A7.
81. P. Baker, ‘Ashe's widow joins critics of statue site’, Washington Post (3 Jan. 1996), p. D6. ‘Widow of Arthur Ashe raises objection to site for monument’, New York Times (2 Jan. 1996), p. A7.
82. Quoted in Allen, ‘Monument site’, p. A5; Allen, ‘Ashe family’.
83. G. Hickey, ‘Ashe statue delayed again’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (3 Jan. 1996), pp. A1, A5; G. Hickey, ‘Young still backs downtown statue’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (5 Jan. 1996), pp. B1, B5; G. Hickey, ‘Compromise accommodates all in Ashe debate’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (9 Jan. 1996), pp. A1, A10; ‘Mayor: Mrs. Ashe to push fund drive’, Richmond Free Press (11 Jan. 1996), pp. 1, 7.
84. Quoted in G. Hickey, ‘Ashe contest proposal doused’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (26 Mar. 1996), pp. A1, A5.
85. Hickey, ‘Statue's path’; M. Williams, ‘Turf war threatens sports hall of fame here’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (16 Sept. 1997), pp. A1, A7.
86. Quoted in M. Williams, ‘At least some of city's ghosts are exorcized at ceremony’, Richmond Times-Dispatch (11 July 1996), p. A1; quoted in ‘Net gain’, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (20 Aug. 1996), p. 2A.
87. Barone and Ujifusa, The almanac of American politics, 1998, p. 1458.
88. J. Roop, ‘The world watched’, Richmond State (20-26 July 1995), pp. 1, 2; ‘Ashe vote heard “round the world” ‘, Richmond Afro-American.