Public Event: Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered

Registration Closed

This event took place on November 10, 2021 from 6pm ET - 7:30pm ET / 5pm PT - 6:30pm CT.

Video excerpts from the event are available below.
  • The Haymarket Martyrs Monument: Past, Present, Future

    The Haymarket Martyrs Monument: Past, Present, Future

    As part of the virtual public event "Monumental Labor: Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered," Dr. Melissa Dabakis examines the history of the 1886 Haymarket Square bombing. Her presentation traces efforts to commemorate the events from their immediate aftermath to today.

    Duration:
    18 minutes, 10 seconds
  • Pullman National Monument

    Pullman National Monument

    As part of the virtual public event "Monumental Labor: Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered," Assistant Superintendent Sue Bennett shares the history and current status of the Pullman National Monument.

    Duration:
    4 minutes, 12 seconds
  • A Reconstituted Monument: Creating an Encounter with Difficult Truth

    A Reconstituted Monument: Creating an Encounter with Difficult Truth

    As part of the virtual public event "Monumental Labor: Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered," Dr. Geoff K. Ward discusses the Dred and Harriet Scott Statue in St. Louis as well as the broader context of how the memorial landscape can contribute to the repair of the legacies of racial violence.

    Duration:
    19 minutes, 11 seconds
  • Gateway Arch National Park

    Gateway Arch National Park

    As part of the virtual public event "Monumental Labor: Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered," Pam Sanfilippo, Program Manager, Museum Services & Interpretation at Gateway Arch National Park, discusses present and future plans for interpretation of labor history at the site.

    Duration:
    5 minutes, 33 seconds
  • Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered Roundtable Discussion

    Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered Roundtable Discussion

    As part of the virtual public event "Monumental Labor: Justice Denied, Injustice Remembered," speakers Sue Bennett, Dr. Melissa Dabakis, Lynne Jackson, Pam Sanfilippo, and Dr. Geoffrey Ward discuss public memory and commemoration with an emphasis on the Dred and Harriet Scott Statue in St. Louis and the Haymarket Martyrs Monument outside Chicago. Dr. Eleanor Mahoney is the discussion moderator.

    Duration:
    25 minutes, 35 seconds
Statue of Dred and Harriet Scott standing with hands clasped in front of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis
Dred and Harriet Scott Statue in front of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis.

Gateway Arch National Park

Each monument calls attention to a pivotal time in 19th century American life. The Dred and Harriet Scott Statue, dedicated in 2012, honors the Scotts' courageous decision to seek freedom from enslavement in 1846, when they filed suit at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis. More than ten years later, their case would end with a Supreme Court ruling that denied African Americans the most basic rights of citizenship.

Completed in 1893, the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument at Forest Home/Waldheim Cemetery occupies an exceptional place in U.S. labor history. It pays tribute to the lives of five men charged with playing a role in an 1886 bombing at Haymarket Square in Chicago and to the broader movement for workers rights to which the accused, all anarchists, dedicated their lives. Over time, other prominent radicals and labor organizers have been buried in proximity to the Monument, an indication of its continued significance.

Four decades and a Civil War separate the events of Haymarket from the actions of Dred and Harriet Scott. Yet, these two moments - and these two monuments - can be linked together. Each one speaks to an episode in 19th century labor conflict, when the police, the legal system, and other institutions of the state and capital suppressed movements for racial and economic justice. The struggle for Black freedom is central to understanding U.S. labor history in the past and present. This event will highlight that conversation.

View of the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument
View of the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument

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The event is organized in collaboration with Gateway Arch National Park and Pullman National Monument, and will feature speakers including Dr. Melissa Dabakis (Professor Emerita of Art History, Kenyon College) and Dr. Geoff K. Ward (Professor of African and African-American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis).


**Tune in ten minutes before the event starts to see a slideshow of other National Park sites that commemorate working people's histories of conflict and protest.**

"Monumental Labor" is a three-part public event series that explores the memory of work and working peoples in National Parks through their representation in monuments and memorials. The series is organized by NPS Mellon Humanities Fellows Dr. Eleanor Mahoney and Dr. Emma Silverman, and it is made possible by the National Park Service in part by a grant from the National Park Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.


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Last updated: February 1, 2022

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