News Release

National Park Service Hosts Virtual Program “The Lives of Monuments: Victory and Alliance at Yorktown” on April 15

Date: April 2, 2021
Contact: Jason Ginder, 757-897-4610

In 1781 just days after the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, ended the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress passed a resolution to erect a monument to mark the occasion. However, the Monument to Victory and Alliance (commonly known as the Yorktown Victory Monument) was not built until a century later, when its construction became part of a project to cement national unity after the fractures of the Civil War.

“The Lives of Monuments: Victory and Alliance at Yorktown” is a virtual program that brings scholars, National Park Rangers, and members of the public together to consider the Yorktown Victory Monument and the memory of the American Revolution in the South. The free program will be held on Zoom on Thursday April 15th from 6:00-7:30pm EST. To register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0PaPUuEuQiWMuxzs31WLRg. Tune in ten minutes early to see a slideshow of photographs of the monument.

The program features Dr. Vivien Green Fryd (Professor Emerita at Vanderbilt University), Dr. Thomas Chambers (Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Canisius College), and Linda J. Williams (Park Ranger at Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial National Historical Park). They will discuss both how the Yorktown battlefield became a landscape of shared memory and how the Victory Monument’s statues tell a story about evolving national ideals.

“The Lives of Monuments” series is organized by National Park Service Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Emma Silverman, and is made possible by the National Park Foundation, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Contact [e-mail] with questions, and follow the links below to register for upcoming programs in the series:

May 20, 2021, 6:00-7:30pm EST, “The Lives of Monuments: Patriots of African Descent—Black Representation in Histories of the Revolution and Its Monuments” https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_I4FFyH_BR2ur3vefrnmK1Q

June 17, 2021, 6:00-7:30pm EST, “The Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier–Vandalism and the Legacy of the Founding Fathers” https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uosA5wQUSFGG8CZML1-jFg

July 8, 2021, 6:00-7:30pm EST, “The General von Steuben Statue—Interpreting the Revolution’s ‘Gay General’ and LGBTQ+ Histories in the Early Republic”https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qfz3kjnpSo2j7CYJJoRfUg

About Colonial National Historical Park: Colonial National Historical Park was established in 1930 to preserve important 17th and 18th century sites that tell the story of English colonization and the struggle for American independence. Jamestown’s legacy includes representative government, but also slavery, a brutal institution that spread throughout the colonies. At Yorktown, Virginia colonists fought in the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War. The 23-mile Colonial Parkway links the sites and is recognized as an “All-American Road”. Learn more online.

About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.