About the Site

The Historical Heroes Project was launched in June 2021. New hero pages and statue pages are constantly being added, and the order in which they are added does not necessarily correspond to their importance or worthiness. Who counts as a historical hero? For the purposes of this website, any person whose statue has been taken down or whose namesake has been removed due to a city, state, country, or society in general deciding that the person is no longer worthy of being honored. The fact that a particular historical figure is not part of the website yet does not imply that I don't think they are important; it just means I haven't had time to write about them yet.

Philosophy & Manifesto

You might be asking yourself: What would possess someone to create a website dedicated to historical figures that many people consider racist and/or oppressive? Here I will attempt to answer that question.

In my opinion, the removal and destruction of statues, a trend that began in 2015, got worse in 2017, and exploded in both scope and viciousness in 2020, is deeply, deeply wrong. This might sound like hyperbole, but I truly believe that it is the worst thing that has ever happened in human history. This applies to both the violent tearing down of statues by protesters, as well as the peaceful, legal removal of statues by city and state governments.

I have several reasons for feeling so strongly about statues. First of all, I love history, and I love art. Therefore, I love statues. I have always been drawn to them. Whether I am walking around my native city of Boston or on vacation, I love visiting, admiring, and taking photos of statues. Seeing people intentionally destroying something that I love is excruciatingly painful. The idea that someone could see a statue and dislike it, let alone dislike it so strongly that they would decide to destroy it, is completely incomprehensible to me.

Second, the whole point of statues and monuments is their permanence. They are erected to memorialize historical people, groups, and events for future generations. To remove a statue goes against the entire concept of what a statue is supposed to be and defeats the purpose of having erected it. If our society does not honor the promise, inherent in the creation of every statue, to leave the statue in place forever, then our society should not even be creating statues in the first place.

Third, removing statues is a fundamentally negative act. It does not add anything to the world; it only subtracts. It does not create anything beautiful or valuable; it only destroys. It does not honor, glorify or celebrate anyone or anything; instead it tears people down, both literally and figuratively. I don't understand how people could consider the removal of public art to be a worthy goal or an occasion for happiness.

Fourth, the historical figures that I am most drawn to are those who are different, quirky, eccentric, and/or controversial, and these are the very people being targeted by the anti-statue mobs. While there's nothing wrong with people such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, or Abraham Lincoln, it is the more unpopular and politically incorrect people from history who tend to be my favorites - the rebels, the underdogs, the contrarians, the firebrands, and the revolutionaries. Although the mobs claim to be tearing down symbols of racism and oppression, they are truly attacking the ideas of being different, thinking for oneself, and fighting back against authority.

For at its most fundamental level, the issue of whether or not statues should be removed is not about any particular historical figure. It's not about Christopher Columbus; it's not about the Confederacy; it's not about founding fathers. It's not even about statues themselves. It's about whether we want to live in a world where diversity is embraced and celebrated, or a world where conformity is enforced. It's about whether we want a variety of stories to be told and a variety of perspectives to be heard, or whether we tolerate only the stories and perspectives that align with the establishment's version of events. It's about whether we want public spaces that are welcoming and inclusive towards all people, or whether we want to exclude anyone who does not share the majority's values and opinions. It's about whether we value individuality and independence of thought, or mindless compliance with social norms. It's about whether we admire people who stand up to authority and fight for their rights, or condemn them as traitors.

The tearing down of statues, stripping of place names, and banning of flags is supposedly motivated by concerns about diversity and inclusion, but it is actually accomplishing the exact opposite. It elevates some cultures at the expense of others and confers benefits on some groups while inflicting harm and pain on other groups and individuals. It is cruel, brutal, vicious, mean, heartless, barbaric, hateful, intolerant, unjust, authoritarian, and motivated by a complete lack of empathy. Disgraceful, despicable, disgusting, reprehensible - all of these adjectives are accurate and none is strong enough to fully capture how morally wrong statue removal is. Those who carry it out and/or support it are bigots and bullies who have zero regard for the feelings, wishes, or perspectives of anyone who thinks differently from themselves.

Every statue has a story behind it. Every statue was erected for a reason, required hard work and skill to create, and memorializes a unique individual. To take a statue down tramples on the rights of those who cherish it, completely disregards the perspectives of those who donated money and time to commission it, disrespects the artist, and erases the subject's unique identity and story.

Watching and reading about these destructive actions has been so upsetting, infuriating, sickening, and traumatizing that I decided I needed to do something to fight back. This website is my attempt to do just that. Although no website can make up for the loss of magnificent statues in public spaces, I hope to do a small part towards protecting, defending, and honoring these heroes and keeping their memory alive.

Terminology

I coined the term "statue genocide" to refer to the destruction of statues and monuments. The word "genocide" is defined as "the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group." Statues are not actually alive of course, so perhaps this term is not accurate in a literal sense, but I think that it is very accurate in an abstract sense. The removal of statues, place names, and flags is certainly deliberate, it is so pervasive and widespread that one could certainly call it systematic, and it certainly targets particular national, racial, political, and cultural groups: people of European descent, people associated with the Confederate States of America, people associated with Christianity, and people associated with conservative political beliefs. Although the statue genocide does not involve actually killing people, it does involve the attempted obliteration of unpopular individuals and groups from our culture and our collective memory. The statue genocide is not murder in a literal sense, but it constitutes murder in a spiritual and symbolic sense.

Header Image

The header image depicts three of my favorite statues and monuments: the statue of Bobby Orr outside TD Garden in Boston, MA (still in existence; knock on wood), the statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston, MA (brutally decapitated by intolerant bullies), and Stone Mountain, a huge carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson in Georgia (still in existence, but being targeted for removal by intolerant bullies).

Thanks & Credits

The information and pictures on this website came from a wide variety of sources. Below are links to some resources that I found helpful: