Loyola Faculty on the Politics of Memory

Image of Camp Douglas, courtesy Chicago History Museum

How do we remember problematic history? Three Loyola professors have recently explored this timely question and its profound effects on sites and memorials throughout America.

With WBEZ, Professor Ted Karamanski discusses public memory of Camp Douglas, one of the largest POW camps for the Union Army during the Civil War, located in the heart of Bronzeville. “If we try to memorialize Camp Douglas in such a way that we don’t share the story, share the authority in creating the site with the people in the community, then you’re asking for trouble,” Karamanski explains. 

Professor Ben Johnson's Refusing to Forget Project explores state-sanctioned violence and civil right legacies on the Texas border. It highlights the consequences of violent policing in the border region and celebrates forgotten heroes who stood up for equality. 

And in the Columbia Chronicle, Professor Tony Cardoza discusses Chicago monuments to Italo Balbo, Air Marshall of Benito Mussolini's Aeronautica, including his involvement with a campaign to change the name of a downtown street named after Balbo.